
"*<*"'-•. »•* v 6* %/^w\vV* *</*»£?•*&* %,*^W'**A 4 ' *<►**••. »** A 0*" 




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THE COAST ARTILLERY CORPS IN THE PAGEANT 
Soldiers from Fort Wright, Fisher's Island 




THF. NAVY REPRESENTATIVES 

Bluejackets from the Torpedo-Boat Destroyer Division 



THE STONINGTON BATTLE CENTENNIAL 

A RECORD OF THE CELEBRATION OF 
AUGUST EIGHTH, NINTH AND TENTH 
NINETEEN HUNDRED AND FOURTEEN 




STONINGTON, CONNECTICUT 

PALMER PRESS 

1915 



36' 



COMPILED, PRINTED AND PUBLISHED 
BY THE PALMER PRESS, STONINGTON 
COPYRIGHT 1915 BY PALMER PRESS 



t. 



MAV-8i9!5 ©GLA406149 




EX ECUTIVE COMMITTEE 
Left to right, sitting: James H. Weeks, Secretary; Cornelius B. Crandall. Chairman; Everett N. 

Pendleton. Treasurer 

Left to right, standing: Charles B. MeCoart, Wurtem A. Hreed. Henry K. Palmer, 

Jerome S. Anderson, Jr., Benjamin S. Cutler 





PARADE HOSE CARRIAGE 

of Stonington S. 1'. I-'.. Co., No. 1. Miss Mary 

Kelley on carriage; Robert Edgar and John 

D'Amico at tiller. Steamer following 



CAPTAIN JOHN MASON 

lte\ . Charles J. Mason in the role of his ancestor 

and carrying' the latter's sword 




FIRE CHIEFS IN* SATURDAY'S PARADE 

Chief Ed. P. Teed, Stonington; Chief Charles F. Donath and Assistant Mason Manning. Mystic: 

First Assistant Charles H. Rose, New London; Chief Loren L. Park. Noank; 

Assistant Charles D. Main. Stonington 




RIGHT OF LINE IN FIRE PARADE ON MAIN' STREET 

Procession about to start. Stonington Fire Police in foreground. Pioneer Hook and Ladder 
Co., No. 1, of Stonington, in rear 



TO THE PEOPLE OF THE 
TOWN OF STOxNINGTON 



a&j S 4 




FLAG RAISING AT CANNON* SQUARE 
Rev. J. H. Odell. D. 1).. addressing Stonington Boy Scouts Saturday morning 




AT THK HEAD OF THE LINE 
Marshal Hadlai A. Hull. "Marshal Aides Arthur N. Nash and Bourdon A. Babcock 



















Pz •?'>''??■'% -I - » 


' 












Brftii«, 


\ i J . -J -_ l - a 






• '-—*■ ■ f 





MYSTIC HOOK AND I.AlJDI.li CO.. N„. I 




B. F. HOXIE ENGINE CO., NO. I, OF MYSTIC 

After the parade, at Wadawanuck square 



PREFACE 

THIS is a plain account of the celebration of the one-hundredth 
anniversary of the Battle of Stonington. It has been written 
with the simple idea in mind of preserving a record, as nearly complete 
as need be, of the events of August eighth, ninth and tenth, 1914. 
There has been no attempt at embellishment or fine writing; the tacts 
of the celebration have been set down bare of flourish and fancy. If 
rhetoric is sought, it can be found in the formal addresses of the occa- 
sion, while many a touch of sentiment may be discovered in the melodious 
verses which the anniversary evoked. 

It may be objected that there is too much detail in the recital of the 
preliminaries of the celebration, but it was believed that the story of 
how the plan grew might be of service to other communities intending 
to celebrate anniversaries of their own. Some useful hints may be 
gathered from the experience of those upon whom the management of 
the Stonington Battle Centennial devolved. 

An endeavor has been made to give credit wherever credit was due 
for the success of the celebration, but it is certain that some names have 
been inadvertently omitted. Indeed it would not be practicable to put 
on record the individual services of all those who helped to carry the 
picturesque enterprise through. There were literally hundreds who 
gave generously of their time and efforts to the task. All that can be 
said by way of acknowledgment is that there was harmonious co-opera- 
tion from the first and that everyone's contribution of labor and counsel 
had its share in the consummation. 

The celebration was a township affair. It owed its success to the loyal 
assistance of workers in every district of the town. Pawcatuck, the 
Road, the Borough, Mystic and Old Mystic all gave their time, money 
and effort. All parts of the town were represented on the various com- 
mittees and in the Saturday and Monday parades. The new Stoning- 
ton Hag, carried at the head of the pageant of Monday with the national 
and State emblems, showed five stars symbolic of the five districts of 
the town; the churches throughout the town united in patriotic services 

5 



on Sunday in honor of the occasion. Not within the present generation, 
certainly, has such an appeal been made, and so successfully made, for 
the subordination of sectional prejudices and rivalries to the interests of 
the town as a whole. May the spirit of sympathy and union continue 
— from the Mystic to the Pawcatuck — and all the people of the town 
feel in increased measure henceforth their essential unity. 

It should be added that generous assistance was rendered also by 
New London, Groton, North Stonington and Westerly, whose share 
may be traced in the following pages; by summer visitors, and by vari- 
ous others. 

It is unfortunate that some of the features of the celebration were 
not adequately caught by the camera, but the spirit and quality of the 
occasion are fairly reflected in the pictures in this volume. It was 
impossible to include all the attractive illustrations that might have 
been put in ; the best that could be done was to make a selection. It is 
probable that amateur photographers have in their possession many 
attractive prints that the public has never seen and would be glad to 
see. If such photographs are in existence, and the owners are willing 
to contribute them to a permanent record of the celebration, they might 
appropriately be lodged with the Stonington Historical Society. 

In conclusion it may be said that the celebration not only taught us 
all the value of united effort, but gave us a new sense of kinship and 
a new hope for Stonington's future. 

H. R. P. 




NEPTUNE HOSE CO., No. 1, OF STONINGTON 




STONINGTON STEAM FIRE ENGINE CO., No. I 




PIONEER HOOK AND LADDER CO.. NO. I, OF STONINGTON 

Rom ■ Band of New London, escorting Alert Hook and Ladder Co.. No. 1. of Westerly, in the 

distance 



-■ m 








k*i— 


35 


*> 


r=*\ 


- 


HhII 




•• #a 


- 


CATARACT 


FIRE CO. 


, NO. 2, 




Of 


Lakewood 







CONTENTS 



Dedication 

Preface .... 

Contexts 

Planning the Celebration 

Saturday, August Eighth 

Sunday, August Ninth . 

Monday, August Tenth 

The Patriotic and Pageant Parade 

The Pageant-Parade of Stoningtox 

The Centennial Ball .... 

Cost of the Celebration 

The Flag of Stonington 

Financial Report of Executive Committee 

The Historical Society Exhibition 

Committees ...... 



3 
5 

7 
9 
19 
24 
35 
47 
49 
57 
58 
59 
GO 
61 
63 





! 3» i I 
I 




B. F. HOXIE ENGINE CO. OF MYSTIC. FOLLOWED BY MYSTIC HOOK AND 

LADDER CO. 




PAWCATUCK FIRE POLICE 




ALERT HOOK AND LADDER CO., NO. 1. OF WESTERLY 

Wakefield Military Hand and Wakefield Hook and Ladder Co., No. 1. following. Westerly Band 
escorting P. S. Barber Hose Co. of Pawcatuck in the distance 




P. S. BARBER HOSE CO. OF PAWCATUCK 
Chief Henry A. Stahle and other officers of the Pawcatuck Department in the foreground 



PLANNING THE CELEBRATION 

FOR several years previous to 1914 the desirability of celebrating in 
that year the one-hundredth anniversary of the battle of Stonington 
had been apparent. During the latter part of 1912 a number of local 
organizations appointed committees in anticipation of the event, and 
on December 23, at the call of the board of Warden and Burgesses of 
Stonington Borough, a meeting was held in Borough Hall to which "all 
organizations and societies" were invited to send representatives. 

At this meeting Cornelius B. Crandall, Warden of the borough, pre- 
sided and James H. Weeks was appointed Clerk. After some discussion 
of the proposed celebration, it was voted, on motion of Charles E. 
Shackley, "that a committee of three be appointed to confer with the 
Representatives to the General Assembly from Stonington in relation to 
obtaining an appropriation from the State for the celebration." The 
Chairman named as this committee Judge Wurtem A. Breed, Jerome 
S. Anderson, Jr., and Henry R. Palmer. 

It was further voted "that said committee be instructed to formu- 
late a plan for celebrating and commemorating the one-hundredth 
anniversary of the battle of Stonington and report at the next meeting. " 

The first definite steps were thus taken considerably more than a 
year and a half in advance of the date of the celebration. It was felt 
that the occasion demanded painstaking and mature preparation, and 
that whatever was done should be decided upon in season to allow the 
details to be worked out with the utmost care. There was therefore 
no distressing congestion of arrangements at the eleventh hour: every 
contingency, so far as practicable, had been anticipated, and while 
changes of plan were found to be necessary from time to time, there 
was no confusion on this account. 

The scheme of the celebration developed naturally and unhurriedly, 
and, thanks to the co-operation of loyal and devoted workers from all 
parts of the town, and from the neighboring towns of Groton, North 
Stonington and Westerly, was carried through to a remarkable success. 
Practically everybody who was called upon to help responded willingly. 

9 



10 

The organizations represented at the first meeting, and the names of 
their delegates, follow : 

WARDEN AND BURGESSES 
C. B. Crandall, W. P. Bindloss, T. W. Garity, H. A. Muller, B. C. Chesebro, C. B. McCoart 

J. A. Vargas. 

STONINGTON FIRE DEPARTMENT 

Chief Engineer E. P. Teed, Assistant C. D. Main. Neptune Hose Co. : C. E. Shackley, C. B. 

McCoart. Stonington Fire Police: C. G. Cushman, W. F. Wilcox. Pioneer Hook 

and Ladder Co.: J. F. Joseph, J. H. Weeks. Stonington Steam 

Fire Engine Co.: J. S. Anderson, Jr.. F. J. Ostman. 

STONINGTON FREE LIBRARY 

E. P. Edwards, C. B. States, Miss Lizzie M. Trumbull, 

STONINGTON MEN'S CLUB 

W. A. Breed, B. S. Cutler, E. B. Hinckley. 

STONINGTON LODGE, NO. 50, A. O. U. W. 

David Vennard, Fritz Buck. 

STONINGTON HISTORICAL AND GENEALOGICAL SOCIETY 

Miss Gertrude Palmer, S. H. Chesebro, Gilbert Collins. 

STONINGTON IMPROVEMENT ASSOCIATION 

Miss Louise Trumbull, Dr. C. M. Williams, H. R. Palmer. 

STONINGTON TRAVEL CLUB 

Mrs. D. C. Stone, Mrs. O. F. Pendleton, Mis3 Laura T. Wood. 

STONINGTON GRANGE 

A. G. Wheeler, S. N. Williams, A. G. Hewitt. 

LADIES' CATHOLIC BENEVOLENT ASSOCIATION 

Mrs. J. H. Shackley, Mrs. Bessie O'Neil, Mrs. Dennis Danahy. 

LADIES' AUXILIARY, ANCIENT ORDER HIBERNIANS, DIVISION 37 

Mrs. Dennis Danahy, Mrs. T. J. McCormick, Mrs. P. H. Coffey. 

NINA COUNCIL, NO 43, KNIGHTS OF COLUMBUS 

Joseph Gilmartin, T. J. McCormick, J. A. Vargas, Jr. 

COURT GEORGE HOWE FELLOWS, FORESTERS OF AMERICA 

C. E. Shackley, J. H. Shackley, Joseph DeBragga. 

PEQUOT COUNCIL, NO. 442, ROYAL ARCANUM 

H. B. Noyes, Thomas Wilkinson. 

MYSTIC MEN'S CLUB 

H. J. Holdredge, B. F. Williams, Dr. W. H. Gray. 

PAWCATUCK FIRE DISTRICT 

A. G. Martin, H. A. Stable, James Shea. 

Later the following representatives were reported: 

ARION SOCIETY 

Henry Scholl. John Wenmaker. 

ANCIENT ORDER OF HIBERNIANS 

Peter Flynn. Edward Barrett, W. J. Gilmore, 



11 

It will be seen from this list how general and representative a charac- 
ter the movement for the celebration had from the start. 

At a meeting on January 6, 1913, held at Borough Hall, a tentative 
plan for a three-days celebration, to occur on Saturday, Sunday and 
Monday, August 8, 9 and 10, 1914, was presented by the committee 
appointed at the previous meeting. This report was received and 
adopted, subject to amendments. 

It was voted "that the committee of three appointed at the last 
meeting, viz. Judge W. A. Breed, J. S. Anderson, Jr., and II. R. 
Palmer, together with C. B. Crandall, B. S. Cutler and Charles B. 
McCoart, be named and constituted an Executive Committee, with 
power to appoint all sub-committees." 

The first meeting of the Executive Committee was held on February 
2, 1913, at the residence of C. B. Crandall. The committee was en- 
larged by the addition of James H. Weeks and Everett N. Pendleton, 
and the following officers were elected : C. B. Crandall Chairman, James 
H. Weeks Secretary, Everett N. Pendleton Treasurer. 

It was voted that regular meetings of the Executive Committee be 
held in the Warden and Burgesses room on the first Monday evening 
of each month, beginning with March 3. 

It was further voted that a petition be presented to the General 
Assembly through the Representatives of the town, asking for the sum 
of five thousand dollars to be used by the town "toward the proper cel- 
ebration and commemoration of the one-hundredth anniversary of the 
battle of Stonington. " 

At a meeting of the Executive Committee on February 10 it was 
estimated that the expense of the celebration would be $0500, exclusive 
of $2000 for a permanent memorial. How close to the ultimate cost 
these figures were will later appear. 

The records of the committee for March 12 read as follows: 

1 ' The members of the Executive Committee, with the exception of the Treasurer, 
went to Hartford, Conn., on this date to appear before the Appropriation Com- 
mittee of the General Assembly on the bill to appropriate 85,000 to assist Ston- 
ington in the proper observance of August 9, 10, 11, 1914. 



12 

"Those who spoke in behalf of the measure were Judge W. A. Breed, Henry R. 
Palmer, Hon. Abel P. Tanner, Representative from New London ; Senator Fred- 
erick A. Johnson of Montville, Conn. ; George R. McKenna. 

"The committee was well pleased with its reception by the members of the com- 
mittee of the General Assembly.'' 

Meetings of the Executive Committee were held from time to time, 
and at more frequent intervals as the date of the celebration approached. 
On July 7, 1913, it was voted to ask the Mystic Fire District to appoint 
a committee of three to co-operate with the General Committee. 

On August 4 a meeting of the General Committee was held, at 
which the minutes of the Executive Committee to date were read and 
approved, and the following additional committees were appointed : 

FINANCE COMMUTE!': 

Benjamin S. Cutler, Chairman; Miss Louise Trumbull, Secretary; Miss Jean C. Palmer, John H. 

Ryan, Nathaniel P. Noyes, Mrs. Charles H. Cowan, Miss Annie McGrath, Judge Elias B. 

Hinckley, A. G. Martin, Henry A. Stahle, James Shea, Heman J. Holdredge, 

Benjamin F. Williams, Dr. W. H. Gray. 

COMMITTEE ON INVITATIONS AND SPEAKERS 

Henry R. Palmer, Chairman; J. S. Anderson, Jr., Secretary; Judge Gilbert Collins, C. B. Crandall, 

John W. Chamberlain, A. R. Stillman, James Cooper. 

"The tone of the speakers at the meeting," say the minutes, "showed 
that the interest in the celebration was increasing." Letters from Mrs. 
Clarence F. R. Jenne, President, and Mrs. Noyes D. Baldwin, Vice 
President, of the Connecticut United States Daughters of 1812 were 
read. These indicated a desire that the society should take part in the 
celebration. 

On September 8 the Executive Committee was informed that the 
Daughters of 1812 wished to provide a suitable permanent memorial for 
the occasion, and it was voted that a tablet on the site of the old fort 
be suggested to the society. James H. Weeks was appointed a com- 
mittee to obtain all the facts possible regarding the location of the fort, 
H. R, Palmer and C. B. McCoart were made a committee on badges 
and souvenirs. 

At a meeting of the Executive Committee, October 13, the fol- 
lowing votes were passed : 

"That the Committee on Invitations and Speakers be instructed to proceed at 




THE SUNDAY EXERCISES AT WADAWANUCK SQUARE 
Governor Baldwin delivering Ins historical address 




ANOTHER VIEW OF THE SUNDAY GATHERING 
Speakers" platform at right, speakers facing toward Main street. Children's chorus on grand- 
stand near centre of picture 




PROFESSOR OTIS E. RANDALL 

Who delivered an address at the Sunday 

afternoon exercises 





MISS ROSAMOND SPENCER HOLMES 
Who unveiled the- tablet 




COURTLANDT W. AND HARRY \V 
BABCOCK 

Colonial riders 



THE STONINGTON BATTLE FLAG 

William K. Holmes, Jr.. holding it aloft. Ray- 
mond M. Holmes at right 



once to invite special guests, particularly the representatives of the Army and Navy. 

"That Miss Grace D. Wheeler be requested to prepare a list of historical places 
in the borough to be suitably marked. 

"That the Stonington Historical and Genealogical Society be asked to take 
charge of the business of collecting and exhibiting historical objects in connection 
with the 1914 celebration, especially those of local interest. 

"That the committee adopt as the official emblem for the celebration a picture of 
the cannons and memorial monument on Cannon square. 

"That all bills shall be paid by the Treasurer on the approval of the Executive 
Committee." 

On November 17 it was voted "that it is the sense of the committee 
that the place for the memorial to be erected on the site of the old fort 
by the United States Daughters of 1812 of Connecticut is the corner 
leading to the breakwater." The Committee on Invitations and Speak- 
ers was instructed to inquire about a pageant, and the questions of a 
children's chorus and a flagpole were put in the hands of sub-committees. 

On December 1 it was reported that Mr. Eugene Atwood had given 
permission to have the memorial tablet erected on the desired spot and 
that Miss Harriet N. Woodard of Westerly had accepted the invitation 
extended to her to direct the children's singing, and a special committee 
on pageant was elected as follows : Miss Louise Trumbull, Miss Anne 
Atwood and Miss Laura T. Wood. 

The pageant question was discussed at the meeting of January 5, 
1914, with the members of the Pageant Committee in attendance. "It 
was found," the minutes say, "that such a venture would prove too 
expensive to carry out." C. B. Crandall was appointed a sub-com- 
mittee to ascertain the wishes of the officers of the Stonington Fire 
Department in relation to the celebration. 

On January 28 the Executive Committee reported to the General 
Committee at a meeting in Borough Hall, at which the minutes of the 
former body from August 4, 1913, to January 5 were read and ap- 
proved. Recommendations for the three-days celebration, in much the 
form finally carried out, were made and adopted. It was voted "that 
the sum of ^900 be paid to Ed. P. Teed, Chief Engineer of the Ston- 



14 

ington Fire Department on or before June 1, 1914, for distribution to 
the several borough companies as they may designate." In accord- 
ance with the recommendations of the Executive Committee, propor- 
tional sums for the Pawcatuck and Mystic Fire Departments were 
appropriated and it was voted to purchase two flag poles, one for 
Station Plaza and the other for Cannon Park. The Executive Com- 
mittee was empowered to pay all current bills. 

No business was transacted by the Executive Committee between 
January 28 and April 6. On the latter date an offer of Anna Warner 
Bailey Chapter, Daughters of the American Revolution, to assist in the 
celebration was received and accepted. It was voted to ask the chapter 
to mark with appropriate signs the historic houses of the borough. A 
committee to have charge of the unveiling of the tablet on the site of 
the fort was appointed as follows: Mrs. C. F. R. Jenne of Hartford, 
Miss Ethel J. R. C Noyes of Washington and James H. Weeks of 
Stonington. A prize of $10 was appropriated for the best essay 
on "The Battle of Stonington," not to exceed 1000 words, to be 
contested for by pupils of the Stonington High School; the essay 
to be read at the historical exercises of Sunday, August 9. On April 
24 a cheque for $5 for a second prize was received from Miss Ethel 
J. R. C. Noyes, and Mrs. Courtlandt G. Babcock offered a prize of 
$5 for the best essay on the same topic by a pupil of the Stonington 
Grammar School. Benjamin S. Cutler announced a gift of $5 as a 
prize for the best original drawing of the battle, all the sketches to be- 
come the property of the Stonington Historical and Genealogical Society. 
Mr. Cutler also announced a gift of $100 from Mr. Chauncey B. Rice 
for the purchase of prizes for motor-boat races on Monday, August 10. 
The following race committee was appointed: Chauncey B. Rice, 
Charles T. Stanton, Edward F. Darrell. Lorenzo D. Fairbrother, Harry 
W. Babcock. 

At the Executive Committee meeting ot May 18 the question of 
policing the borough during the celebration was taken up and Judge 
Breed was appointed to consult with Deputy Sheriffs Broughton and 
Casey on the subject. It may here be said that the police arrangements 



15 

were under these officers complete and satisfactory. The State Police 
sent a number of men, the police forces of New Haven, Hartford, Nor- 
wich, New London, Westerly and Providence were also represented, 
and the town and borough constables and patrolmen were constantly on 
duty. A number of "crooks" were rounded up, several were shipped 
out of town, and the great crowds were amply protected in purse and 
person. 

At this meeting of May 18 it was voted to invite Major H. A. Hull 
of New London to be Marshal of the parade of August 10, and Judge 
Gilbert Collins to be Chairman of the afternoon historical and literary 
exercises of August 9. Later the Fire Department invited Major Hull 
to be Marshal of the parade of August 8. The Marshal Aides for both 
parades as eventually chosen were also identical — Major Arthur N. 
Nash and Major Bourdon A. Babcock of Pawcatuck. 

Previous to this time it had begun to be evident that the parade of 
Monday as originally planned might not be as fully representative as 
had been hoped. The dispatch of the Army and Navy forces to Mexico 
rendered it impossible for the Washington authorities to make any def- 
inite response to the invitation that had been extended to them to par- 
ticipate in the celebration. Acceptances had been received from all the 
local and semi-local bodies invited, but it was felt that in view of the 
possible failure of the Government to send Army and Navy detachments 
to Stonington some additional features were desirable to make the pa- 
rade a success. Negotiations were therefore entered into with Miss 
Virginia Tanner of Dorchester, Mass. , a graduate of Radeliffe College 
in the class of 1905 and a director of pageants, whose work at the cele- 
bration at Machias, Maine, in 1913 had attracted the attention of the 
committee. The idea of a pageant, in the usual sense of the word, did 
not appeal to most of the committee, but when the desirability, not to 
say the necessity, of strengthening the programme of Monday became 
apparent, it was agreed that an infusion of the pageant quality into the 
parade would be an excellent solution of the problem. 

Miss Tanner visited Stonington on June 4 and met a number of Ston- 
ington people, including the committee, at the house of one of the com- 



16 

mittee members. Her tentative plan for a "pageant parade" was 
approved and the sum of $300 was appropriated to secure her services for 
the term of three weeks in Stonington. An additional sum of $200 was 
appropriated for the expense of the parade. Eventually $300 more was 
appropriated, making a total of $800 devoted to this purpose. Never 
was money better spent for an anniversary celebration. 

The Pageant Committee as newly constituted consisted of Miss Lou- 
ise Trumbull, Miss Anne Atwood and Miss Tanner. Miss Maria B. 
Trumbull was made the Treasurer of the committee. It was voted that 
this committee should arrange all the details of the parade and have 
power to choose all sub-committees, but the plan of the parade was to 
remain subject to the approval and oversight of the Executive Commit- 
tee. Happily no friction resulted from this dual arrangement. It 
seemed to be the desire of everybody to work for the success of the 
undertaking regardless of any access of personal authority. The Pageant 
Committee proved to be highly efficient, and it would be as diffi- 
cult as it would be ungracious to withhold from it unstinted praise. It 
combined industry with tact and ingenuity, while to Miss Tanner in 
particular earnest approval must be given for her demonstrated possession 
of initiative, courage and the quality of "born leadership." As week 
succeeded week, the gradual and orderly unfolding of the plan of the 
pageant silenced objections, over-rode criticism and inspired confidence ; 
while it may be said, without derogation of any other worker for the 
success of the undertaking, that the consummation on August 10 was 
generally hailed as a personal triumph for the resourceful and versatile 
Director. 

Meanwhile (May 26) a committee on prize essays was appointed, con- 
sisting of Miss Louise Trumbull of Stonington, Rev. J. L. Peacock of 
Westerly and Rev. John Fleming of Mystic. The reports of various 
sub-committees showed the steady development of the celebration plans. 
These included the hiring of a tent 80 x 132 ft. in Providence, for use 
for the proposed luncheons to be served on August 8 and 10. (After- 
ward another tent section was found to be necessary.) Warden Crandall 
had direct charge of the tent and the serving of the luncheons. It was 




SHIPS OF THE UNITED STATES NAVY AT STONINGTON 

Division of torpedo-boat destroyers at anchor in the harbor 




ON BOAHD THK TEKKY 
Many visitors inspected the flagship at the steamboat wharf 




START ()!•' ONE OF Till', MOTORHOAT RACKS 




CROWD ON BRKAKWATER. WATCHING RACKS 



17 

arranged, with Dr. Weeks as the sub-committee in charge, to entertain 
the Daughters of 1812 at luncheon in the Congregational church parlors. 
A plan for the special electrical illumination of the borough streets on 
August 10 was proposed, but afterward abandoned. It was also pro- 
posed to invite the British Government to send a warship to the cele- 
bration, but this suggestion was finally given up as impracticable. 

It would be tedious to follow the committee in all the minutiae of 
the preparations. Let it suffice to say that every member cheerfully 
bore the variety of tasks imposed upon him. As the anniversary ap- 
proached, these tasks of course multiplied, and for days in advance of 
the celebration required well-nigh constant attention. 

In the meantime the Pageant Committee and its several sub-com- 
mittees were busy and the firemen were actively preparing for their 
important share in the programme. 

At the Executive Committee meeting of June 26, the Pageant Com- 
mittee reported in favor of a costume dance for the evening of August 
10, and this was sanctioned, the Pageant Committee to be in charge. 
From this time forward many details were settled upon. Bands 
for Sunday and Monday were contracted for, drinking fountains 
and other public conveniences were provided, two permanent flag 
poles were erected, painted and equipped with the national colors; State 
flags were hired, a town flag was designed and adopted, the transporta- 
tion of school-children to and from rehearsals was arranged for, fireworks 
for Saturday and Monday evenings were ordered (at an expense of $500), 
horses were furnished for all those requiring them in the parade of Mon- 
day, including the Marshals and the Army officers; decorations for the 
cemeteries were prepared, badges for the specially invited guests and 
various committees, the sons and daughters of participants in the battle 
and indeed for every participant in Monday's parade were purchased; 
souvenir buttons were bought, halls, rooms and vacant lots were 
rented; special train stops were obtained from the railroad authori- 
ties and orders secured for the slow running of trains through the 
town during the hours of the Saturday and Monday parades, public 
concerts were scheduled — in fact a thousand and one minor matters, 



18 



many of which could not have been foreseen, were debated and decided ; 
and all, it may not be superfluous to add, in unbroken good fellowship 
and harmony. 

Further meetings of the Executive Committee, at which final 
details were arranged, were held on July 9, 16, 23, 27 and 30, and 
August 3 and 6. With every contingency so far as possible provided 
for, it was felt that the one great requisite for the success of the celebra- 
tion was fair weather. The principal anxiety of the committee, the 
question of the participation of the Army and Navy, was happily relieved 
by announcements from the authorities that a detachment of Regulars 
from Fort Wright, Fisher's Island, and a division of torpedo-boat de- 
stroyers from Newport would be present. The success of the Monday 
parade was thus doubly assured. 



SATURDAY, AUGUST EIGHTH 

SATURDAY, August 8, the first day of the celebration, dawned 
amid fog, but before the hour set for the first feature of the pro- 
gramme, the sun had burst through the mists, and from that time 
onward till Monday night, when the celebration came to a close, fair 
weather continued. 

At eight o'clock in the morning the flags on the new poles at Cannon 
square and Station plaza were raised— the former by the Stqningtorj 
Boy Scouts and the latter by the Stonington Tierney Cadets. The Boy 
Scouts marched from their quarters in the Potter Block with flags fly- 
ing and drums beating, Scoutmaster James H. Stivers in the lead. 
Upon their arrival at the square two members of the organization pro- 
ceeded to the home of Rev. Joseph H. Odell, D. D., nearby on Main 
street and escorted him, as speaker of the occasion, to a position near 
the historic guns. Dr. Odell made a stirring five-minute address on 
loyalty, duty and readiness for service, the flag was raised amid enthusi- 
astic cheers, and wreaths were placed on the cannon. A large number 
of interested spectators witnessed this impressive opening exercise of 
the celebration. 

Meanwhile the Tierney Cadets had marched from St. Mary's Roman 
Catholic Church to Station plaza, where Captain Bernard Rose fastened 
the flag to the halliards, and Robert Shackley and William Farnan 
raised it to the masthead. The Cadets gave the Stars and Stripes a 
rousing salute and the brief exercise was at an end. 

For more than a week decorators from out of town — from New York, 
Hartford and other cities — had been busy beautifying the borough with 
American flags and variegated banners and streamers. Almost every 
house and place of business showed the national emblem, and some of 
them were literally covered with the colors. Never before had Ston- 
ington made so general a demonstration of patriotism. It was felt that 
this was the one greatest occasion in the town's history for displaying 
the flag. 

Not far from 10 o'clock, the torpedo-boat destroyer division ordered 

19 



20 

to Stonington for the celebration by the Navy Department arrived off 
the town. Members of the Executive Committee in B. S. Cutler's 
power boat promptly visited the flagship and welcomed Captain A. W. 
Fitch and his squadron to the borough. The ships and their com- 
manders were as follows: Terry, Captain A. W. Fitch; Walke, Lieu- 
tenant L. F. Thibault; Monaghan, Lieutenant J. F. Cox; Sterrett, 
Lieutenant H. B. Hird; Perkins, Lieutenant F. S. Hatch. 

During the early hours of the day many bands and fire companies, as 
well as thousands of sightseers, poured into the borough, until the 
streets and squares were lively with the great throng. Two o'clock was 
the hour set for the fire parade, the chief event of the day, and exactly 
at that time the fire alarm was sounded and the long procession started. 
The order of march was as follows : 

Marshal: Major Hadlai A. Hull. 

Marshal Aides: Major Arthur N. Nash, Major Bourdon A. Babcock. 

Stonington Fire Police, Captain Charles G. Cushman. 

Pawcatuck Fire Police, Captain William Snyder. 

Westerly Fire Police, Captain John M. Aimes. 

Chief Engineer E. P. Teed of the Stonington Borough Fire Department, Assistant Charles D. Main. 

Chief Engineer Charles Donath of the Mystic Fire Department, Chief Engineer Henry A. 

Stahle of the Pawcatuck Fire Department. 

Stone's Military Band of Providence. 

Pioneer Hook and Ladder Co., No. 1, Stonington Fire Department, Captain Raoul M. Delegrange. 

Konomoc Band of New London. 

Alert Hook and Ladder Co., No. 1, of Westerly, Captain George H. Williams. 

Wakefield Military Band. 

Wakefield Hook and Ladder Co., No. 1, Captain Charles J. Coggshall. 

Westerly Band. 

P. S. Barber Hose Co. of Pawcatuck, Captain A. R. Gavitt. 

Excelsior Drum Corps of East Greeuwich, R. I. 

East Greenwich Fire Co., Capt. E. A. Banning. 

Mystic Band. 

Rhode Island Steam Fire Engine Co., No. 1, of Westerly, Captain Frederick Barker. 

Chesebro Fife and Drum Corps of Stonington. 

Stonington Steam Fire Engine Co., No. 1, Captain F. J. Ostman. 

East Greenwich Band. 

Cyclone Engine Co., No. 2, of Westerly Captain A. D. Hill. 

Cataract Fife and Drum Corps of Lakewood, R. I. 

Cataract Fire Co., No 2, of Lakewood, Captain L. F. Howland. 

Coast Artillery Band, Bridgeport. 

B. F. Hoxie Engine Co., No. 1, Mystic, Captain Frank Kuppers. 

Governor's Foot Guard Band, New Haven. 





VIRGINIA TANNER 
Director of the Pageant-Parade 



STONINGTON 
Represented by Mrs. Henrj Robinson Palmer 




WOMEN OF 1814 
Mrs. Frank I). Stanton, Marshal, at right of picture 




GALLUP FAMILY GHOUP 




WHEELER FAMILY 
\m :i( nl ox-cart with descendants ot'Thomas Wheeler 



21 

Mystic Hook and Ladder Co., No. 1, Mystic, Captain Frank A. Mabbett. 

Deep River Drum Corps. 

Noank Engine Co.> No. 1, Noank, Captain Charles E. McDonald. 

Tubbs' Military Band of Norwich. 

Neptune Hose Co., No. 1, Stonington, Captain James J. McCoart. 

Dreadnaught Hook and Ladder and Hose Co., Bristol, R. I., Captain Henry Gallinske. 

King Philip Drum Corps, Pawtucket. 

Westerly Veteran Firemen's Association, Captain George R. Haley. 

Warden and Burgesses of Stonington Borough. 

G uests of Chief Engineers in Automobiles. 

Officers of Connecticut State Firemen's Association. 

Visiting Chief Engineers. 

The line of march began on Main street with the right resting on 
Railroad avenue. Thence the route was up Elm street to Bay View 
avenue, to Elihu street, to South street, to Bradley street, to Bay View 
avenue, to Elm street, to Cutler street, to North Main street, to Trum- 
bull avenue, to North Water street, to Omega street, to Hancox street, 
to Diving street, to Main street and to Stanton field for lunch. 

The number of men in line was over 1400. The great tent on Stanton 
field was ample, however, to accommodate them. A New London 
caterer with a corps of 20 assistants was in charge, while Warden Cran- 
dall, as a special committee appointed for the purpose, kept a general 
oversight of the arrangements. 

The excellence of the parade was everywhere commented on. It 
was one of the largest fire parades ever seen in Eastern Connecticut, and 
certainly as attractive a one as could be desired. The various com- 
panies wore uniforms of gay and differing hues, and the Mystic organi- 
zations looked particularly spick-and-span in their new suits of white. 
The fire apparatus was beautifully decorated with flowers, and every 
bit of brass and nickel had been polished until it shone. The following 
editorial comment of the Mystic Times gives an impartial opinion of 
the event: 

"In the parade of Saturday we were most agreeably disappointed because we did not expect it to 
work out with such interest. And it would not have so done, had not the individual fire companies 
to a man made the occasion one of pride to himself, hence to his company. No greater compliment 
could have been paid the day than the painstaking effort of the individual to look and act his best." 

The New London Day in its account of the parade said : 

"The entire parade, including the IS fire companies. Chief Teed and his guests, the assistant 



22 

chiefs, the fire police of the borough and Pawcatuck, and the bands, numbered over 1400. There 
was a certain uniformity of dress among the firemen of the borough, each of the three companies 
of the department wearing black trousers and black shoes; the Pioneers and Neps in red shirts with 
white monograms and blue dress caps; the Steamers with red shirts with blue collars and cuffs and 
white stars and blue caps; the fire police in the regulation blue uniform and bearing clubs; Chief 
Teed in the regulation blue, with brass buttons and visor cap mounted with the insignia of his rank. 

"The chiefs of the companies bore trumpets with handsome bouquets. All along the line of march 
the firemen were greeted with applause and cheering. All the way out Elm and back and down 
Water and up Main street again, it was one triumphal procession. 

"The procession was concluded at the big tent in Stanton park, where a banquet was served. Thus 
ended one of the grandest parades by firemen that the State has ever seen. Never was Stonington 
borough so roused by sounds of music and cheering and applause, never have its streets presented so 
imposing a spectacle. All along the line of march cameras clicked from sidewalks and grandstands." 

The Stonington Mirror said : 

"The apparatus of the firemen had been richly decorated and the effect was delightful to the eye, 
each company having attempted something quite novel in the way of ornamentation, and that they 
succeeded was plentifully evident. Miss Constance Delagrange, daughter of Foreman Delagrange, 
was seated on the Pioneer H. and L. Co. truck, while little Mary Kelley, daughter of William H. Kelley, 
a former member of the Steamers, held the long strings of white and blue ribbon that, running from 
the company's front, directed the course of the parade truck of Stonington Steamer, No. 1, on which 
she was seated holding a parasol of white. Including the Neptune's parade carriage, all of the local 
apparatus was plentifully decorated with flowers, and the fire engine, that had been prepared for the 
occasion by Engineer Charles A. Rix, by its appearance well repaid his efforts." 

Meanwhile, shortly before five o'clock, Hon. Simeon E. Baldwin of 
New Haven, Governor of Connecticut, arrived by train and was met 
with the automobile of Henry M. Canby, in which he was driven 
around the gaily decorated town and finally to the Congregational 
church parlors, where a special lunch had been prepared by S. H. F. Ross. 
At the table were seated, in addition to the Governor and members of 
the Executive Committee, a delegation of naval officers from the tor- 
pedo-boat destroyer squadron. After the excellent menu had been 
enjo} r ed, there were brief remarks by His Excellency and Captain 
A. W. Fitch, the senior squadron officer. 

Later there were impromptu band concerts on Wadawanuck square 
and elsewhere, and at 7.30 the Mechanics' Band of Stonington gave a 
formal concert at Station plaza, preceding the fireworks display, which 
occupied the time from eight to nine o'clock. The fireworks were fur- 
nished by the National Fireworks Company of New York and were 
beautiful in the extreme. They were set off on the railroad property 



23 

just west of the track leading from the main line to the freight station. 
It is estimated that a throng of five thousand persons saw the display. 

This closed the exercises of the first day. The weather had been 
perfect, the crowds orderly, the parade a great success, the fireworks 
exhibition a satisfying climax to the varied programme. The town went 
to bed well content with the celebration thus far, and hopeful that the 
good weather would hold over Sunday and Monday. 



SUNDAY, AUGUST NINTH 

rpHE weather proved as pleasant on Sunday as it had been on Satur- 
-*• day. Every church in the town of Stonington — in Pawcatuck, the 
borough, the Road district, Mystic and Old Mystic — had been formally 
invited to hold services on Sunday morning appropriate to the occasion, 
and in nearly every instance the invitation was accepted. At Calvary 
Episcopal Church in the borough the service was distinguished by the 
presence of three high dignitaries of the Church, Bishop Davies ot 
Western Massachusetts, Bishop Howden of New Mexico and Suffragan 
Bishop Babcock of Massachusetts, each of whom made fitting remarks. 
At the Second Congregational Church the large congregation (265 
in number) included Governor Baldwin of Connecticut and Dean Otis 
E. Randall of Brown University, the two speakers at the afternoon 
exercises. Rev. Dwight C. Stone, the pastor of the church, delivered 
a sermon in which the theological and ecclesiastical differences of 1814 
and 1914 were pointed out and a brief address was given by Henry R. 
Palmer, as follows: 

ADDRESS OF HENRY R. PALMER 

"We are gathered in this old church of the old New England faith to celebrate a marvellous deed 
in the marvellous history of a great people, the repulse of an English squadron of five staunch ships 
and 160 guns by a handful of patriots with three small cannon and the desperate muskets of 100 
years ago; to commemorate a defence unique, unparalleled, in the record of the nation — yet not in- 
credible, for we remember Macaulay's thrilling tale of Horatius at the bridge — Horatius who said: 
'In yon straight path a thousand may well be stopped by three' — and the equally splendid story of 
Leonidas and his Spartans at the Grecian pass. 

"From these forerunners of ours, the keepers of the coast in 1814, these earlie? lovers of this pleas- 
ant stretch of Connecticut shore, the sturdy men of Mystic and Stonington and the Pequot country- 
side, we may learn the lesson of the supreme emergency. They were the doers of their routine duty, 
the rank and file of the Army of Every Day. Their business was not the priming of guns and the 
repulse of navies, but the making of a living in the field and shop and on the sea. But all their lives 
had been a preparation for some climactic opportunity, some supreme success or failure. 'Our little, 
unremembered deeds,' our insignificant sacrifices or selfishnesses, our indistinguishable triumphs or 
overthrows, are the despotic shapers of our personal fates. Out of a thousand generations of the 
weeds springs the unguessed, unheralded, unanticipated flower, and out of a thousand obscure 
valors sprang the consummate valor of the men at the old fort that held them true to their task, that 
helped them to aim their cannon straight, and that gave them a victory inexplicable only when we 
forget the logical and comprehensible processes by which nature is forever moulding heroes out of 
common men. 

24 




CAPTAIN ADRIAN' BLOCK AND HIS CRKW 
Pioneer Dutch Voyagers of Hilt 




SAMUEL CHESEBRO AND PRISCIL1.A 

ALDEN 

Jesse B. Stinson and Miss Elizabeth Wilbur take 

the parts 




NAVY ON MAIN STREET 




MINER FAMILY GROUP 
D. W. Miner, on horse at right, as Thomas Miner 




PALMER FAMILY GROUP 
Stephen B. Palmer, on horse at right, as Walter Palmer 



25 

"How shall we honor them, the men who fought for us, for us the unborn, the unprophesied, of 
their far day? Not by the blare of music alone, not by the magic shower of rocket and candle, not 
by the inscription of their deeds in permanent bronze, not by the winding of laurel in token of their 
laurelled names — by these, but by more than these: by honest emulation; by defending the old town 
anew; by saving it from its insidious modern enemies, saving it from its subtle bitternesses, little- 
nesses, factions, misunderstandings, jealousies; saving it to its larger and loftier possibilities of use- 
fulness and beauty. Then we shall have not merely a picturesque town by the sea, a town that is 
dearest to us of all towns because it is ours and was once theirs to whom we owe it and to whom we 
owe ourselves, but a town newly fortified, newly ramparted, newly transfigured by the light that 
never was on Fisher's Island sound or the shining surf of the ocean or these leafy streets and lanes — 
the light of unselfish service for our day and generation, of mutual helpfulness, of community co- 
operation. In that glad day, if any good cause calls or any enemy threatens, we shall stand united, 
not in this borough alone, but throughout the township, from boundary river to boundary river and 
from the hills to the sea; shall stand united, every neighbor a friend and every man a brother, shoul- 
der to shoulder and heart to heart; shall stand united for Stonington." 

HISTORICAL EXERCISES 

The main historical exercises of the celebration were held on Sunday 
afternoon at 3 o'clock, a large platform having been erected for the 
speakers and the specially invited guests on the east side of Wadawan- 
uck square, just south of Temple street. It had been intended to 
assemble the audience on the square but the bright afternoon sun caused 
a quick change in this plan and the speakers and guests were faced to 
the east, while the attendant throng promptly gathered in the shady 
street and on the private residential property beyond. 

The presiding officer was Hon. Gilbert Collins, a native of Stoning- 
ton and one of its most distinguished sons. Judge Collins's official 
residence is in Jersey City, but he spends a large part of the year at his 
Stonington home. 

The exercises opened with an invocation by Rev. Dwight C. Stone 
of the Second Congregational Church, after which a chorus of school 
children from all parts of the township sang "The Flag of Stonington,"' 
a new song, specially written and set to music for the celebration. The 
chorus occupied a grandstand which had been built across Temple street 
at its junction with Main. Miss Woodard of Westerly, who had trained 
the chorus, directed the singing, and a deputation from the Mechanics' 
Band, under the leadership of Charles G. Cushman, furnished the ac- 
companiment. 



26 

Judge Collins, in his introductory remarks, touched lightly upon 
various features of the celebration and in a more serious vein referred to 
the great war in Europe. He then introduced Governor Baldwin, who 
had been escorted to the platform before the meeting by the Execu- 
tive Committee and the Mechanics' Band. The Governor spoke as 
follows : 

GOVERNOR BALDWIN'S ADDRESS 

"Why i? it that State and town have united to celebrate this day? It is not an anniversary of any 
great military triumph. It does not recall to memory a w;ir in which our country reaped glory and 
greatness. The War of 1812 was one in which we had few successes and many defeats. We were 
beaten back from Canada. Several of our States and Territories were overrun by British troops. Our 
capital itself, after a resistance so feeble as to be almost ridiculous, was captured. Of the five thou- 
sand men whom Pennsylvania was called on to furnish from her militia for the defence of Washington, 
not one could be obtained. We sought peace, although the objects for which Congress had declared 
war were not attained. We had demanded for our ships of war freedom from search by those of 
Great Britain, and we failed to get any promise of it. The treaty of Ghent was little more than the 
expression of an American wish for peace at any price, consistent with the substantial integrity of 
our territorial boundaries as they had existed before the war. 

"The representatives of Connecticut had voted in Congress against the declaration of war. She 
did not believe it would bring a remedy for our ills. She was not surprised at the outcome. She 
had anticipated no other. 

"She did not look coldly on the War of 1812 because her people were wanting in military spirit. 
From the earliest days of the colony of Connecticut they had always shown it as one of their settled 
characteristics. 

"They had to meet, in the very hours of the foundation of the commonwealth, hostile Indians 
pressing upon their borders. The Pequot War of 1636 showed that the colonists could fight as well 
as pray. Under the lead of John Mason, whose statue overlooks the town of Groton on Pequot hill, 
they struck a blow — cruel, it seems now, but final — which assured unbroken peace for forty years. 

"The eighteenth century brought new dangers. The French were disputing with the British for 
the possession of the American continent. They had built at Louisburg the strongest fortress on the 
Atlantic coast. The people of New England, in 1715, by a brilliant dash, captured it for England, 
and Connecticut troops bore an honorablo part in the achievement. 

"Ten years later, Phineas Lyman of Suffield, as major-general of the Connecticut militia, was 
commander-in-chief of the forces sent against the French fortifications at Crown Point; and our 
troops did good service in their capture and afterwards in that of Montreal. Israel Putnam was with 
him there, and with him again in the expedition against Havana in 1762. 

"The Revolution drew on. Among the first troops after the battle of Lexington in 1775 to march 
to Cambridge were the Governor's Guards of Connecticut, and those from Windham County led by 
General Putnam. 

"Connecticut planned and financed, a few days later, the capture of Fort Ticonderoga. Her troops 
fought at Bunker Hill. A Connecticut general of our militia — Putnam — was in command, and two 
days later was made a major-general of the Continental army by act of Congress. 

"A greater man was made commander-in-chief, George Washington of Virginia, but Putnam 
ranked next. Nor did Washington's own State equal Putnam's in the men she sent into the field 



27 

during the Revolution. Connecticut was a small State and Virginia a large one, but Connecticut had 
more men in service in the Continental army. 

"In all these operations of war, from century to century, Connecticut had fought in self defence, 
or in the defence of her sister commonwealths. Again and again she had engaged in hard fighting 
but always for a cause in the justice of which she thoroughly and honestly believed. 

"The War of 1812 came on and she believed it to be unjustified. She protested against it. She 
caw ruin in it for her commerce, gain for none. She had no heart in such a conflict. To the con- 
science of her people it made no real appeal. 

"Why then, I repeat, should we celebrate this centenary ? 

"It is not brilliant successes; it is not material gains; it is not days of triumph, only, that men 
think worthy of permanent commemoration. 

" 'Sweet are the uses of adversity.' 

"Stonington was the easy victim of a British fleet. They burned a part and could have burned 
the whole. But Stonington found her neighboring towns promptly rallying to her defence. The 
militia of Connecticut were true to their duty. They were aided by volunteers from among the citi- 
zens generally. They brought artillery, heavy for those days, to bear upon the enemy's ships, and 
served it with good effect. They came in numbers sufficient to prevent any land expedition into the 
surrounding country, and thus saved Norwich from attack, and our three men of war laid up there 
in the Thames from capture. 

"The troops of the United State3 did not come to the relief of Stonington. General Thomas H. 
Cushing of Massachusetts, then in command of the military district, with headquarters at New 
London, was appealed to but, wisely probably, thought the forces of the regular army were more 
needed there. He relied on the militia of the State to repel the threatened attack at Stonington 
point. Major General Williams, in command of a division of our militia, responded to his call by 
assembling one regiment here and other detachments at the head of the Mystic river, Norwich and 
New London. 

"Connecticut had protested originally against the war. Two years before, in August, 1812, at a 
special session the Legislature had made this declaration: 

" 'The people of this State view the war as unnecessary * * * A nation without fleets, without 
armies, with an impoverished treasury, with a frontier by sea and land extending many hundred 
miles, feebly defended, waging a war hath not first accounted the cost.' * * * 'By the constitution 
of the United States, the power of declaring war is vested in Congress. They have declared war 
against Great Britain. However much this measure is regretted, the General Assembly, ever 
regardful of their duty to the general government, will preform all those obligations resulting from 
this act. With this view they have at this session provided for the more effectual organization of 
the military force of this State, and a supply of the munitions of war. These will be employed, 
should the public exigencies require it, in defence of this State, and of our sister States, in compli- 
ance with the Constitution, and it is not to be doubted, but that the citizens of this State will be 
found, at the constitutional call of their country, among the foremost in its defence.' 

"The day of trial came. It was the day whose centenary brings us to this place. The militia of 
Connecticut were called upon to defend their State and country — to defend them alone, save for such 
patriotic assistance as could come from the voluntary efforts of their neighbors and friends. The 
authorities of Stonington, as they saw the danger near, had applied to Congress for aid, but in vain. 
They appealed to the commandmant of the regular army for the department, and he too had no 
troops to spare. They appealed to the commandant of the militia of their State, and with success. 

"A regiment was hurried to their relief. A landing was prevented, and the enemy at last forced 
by our heavy artillery to retire. 



28 

"No man lost his life during the hostilities, though one was severely injured and died a few months 
later. 

"The day had nothing in it that was spectacular, except the bursting bombs as they fell upon the 
village roofs. There was no sacrifice of blood; no great sacrifice by fire. 

"The full story of the affair can be found in the account of the semi-centennial celebration in 1864, 
and in Palmer's Stonington by the Sea. 

"Originally it was feared that much of the village had been burned. The Connecticut Mirror of 
August 22, 1814, after recounting the attack and its repulse, proceeds thus: 

" 'The inhabitants, fearing another attack, have not returned to their dwellings, and their desti- 
tute situation calls loudly upon the philanthropies of their fellow citizens. If a brief should be 
granted for collections in the churches of the State, we trust very essential aid will be furnished. 
N'ineteen-twentieths of the inhabitants, it is said, have no other property than their buildings.' 

"It will be recollected that in those days church collections for special objects could not be taken 
without getting the approval of the Governor and council, their license being called the allowance of 
a 'brief.'* 

"The losses proved less than was anticipated. The bombardment was not renewed. 

"What there was that was memorable was the quick rally of our State militia, aided by volunteers 
coming individually to the field, and their intrepid service as artillerists against a formidable British 
fleet. 

' 'As Governor of Connecticut and commander-in-chief of her militia to-day, I am glad to look back 
a hundred years and see that, when my predecessor, then in office, Roger Griswold of Lyme, was 
charged with the duty of repelling an invading fleet which the United States could not meet on the 
sea, he found the militia of Connecticut quick to respond to his call, and able to acquit themselves 
like men in the day of peril. 

"'England,' Nelson had said, nine years before, in the famous signal flung to the breeze from 
every masthead in his fleet at Trafalgar, 'England expects every man will do his duty." Connecti- 
cut expected every man in the ranks of her citizen soldiery to do his duty a hundred years ago this 
day. They did it, and her citizen soldiery of to-day, if they were called upon to face the flame of 
battle and bombardment, would do no less. 

"It is the blessing of our country that, without a standing army adequate to her defence, her 
institutions secure her the quick aid, in time of peril, of a force of militia, brave as the bravest, and, 
during these last years, trained under a stricter discipline and to a higher point in the military art, 
than at any earlier period. It is this that keeps our taxes down, while all Europe is groaning under 
the load of excessive budgets. It is this which enables us to give our young men facilities for 
education which foreign conscription laws virtually preclude. It is this, and this only, which befits 
a free government, founded on the faith in that religion which teaches that, in the long run, right is 
stronger than might in the dealings of nations as well as in the dealings of men." 

*Stat., Ed. 1810, p. 121. 

Next on the programme was the prize historical essay chosen from a 
considerable number offered in competition by students of the Stoning- 
ton High School. It was by Henry M. Gardiner of the borough, the 
winner, who read it as follows : 

THE PRIZE ESSAY 
"Although on this occasion it seems appropriate to mention only the battle fought at Stonington 




CHESEBROUGH FAMILY GROUP 




WILLIAM CH ESEBROUG 1 1 
Dr. Edmund D. Chesebro of Providence takes the part of his ancestor, the first settler 

of the town 




INDIAN" TEPEE 




STANTON FAMILY 
Charles Stanton and Mrs. James R. Carson next behind the standard 



89 

from August 9th to 12th, 18H, which we are now celebrating, nevertheless there should be a great 
amount of importance attached to the fact that the town has twice been visited by the lordly British. 

"In the spring of 1T75, within a few weeks of Lexington and Concord, came the news to the ears 
of the peaceful inhabitants of Block Island that Captain Wallace, commanding the frigate 'Rose', was 
sailing toward their island with the intention of confiscating the best cattle and sheep to be found 
there. Hastily they prepared for flight, sending their cattle across to Stonington for safe keeping 
in the meadows around Quanaduck. 

"Wallace, finding himself foiled in this attempt, and hearing that the livestock had been sent 
away, directed his course toward Stonington, and came to anchor a short distance offshore. 

"The patriots, encamped in the field now north of the house of Mrs. Courtlandt G. Babcock, 
formed quickly and marched to the waterfront. The British tried to effect a landing, but after sev- 
eral attempts, routed by a hail of musket bullets, they at last withdrew. Only one American was 
injured. Thus ended the glorious victory of August 30th, 1775. 

"Alas, to the great grief of the British, Stonington once more met the sea forces of his Britannic 
Majesty in the second engagement, and most assuredly the worse, only thirty-nine years after, in 

the year 1814. 

"At 5 p. m. on Tuesday, August 9th, in this year, the people of Stonington were most unpleasantly 
surprised to see approaching the point, under full sail, four vessels of the British navy, namely the 
'Pactolus,' seventy-four guns; the 'Ramillies,' thirty-eight; the 'Dispatch,' twenty-two, and the 
bomb-ship 'Terror.' This fleet came to anchor a short distance inside Fisher's Island. Immediately 
a small boat put off from the side of the flagship and made its way toward the shore bringing a dis- 
patch from Captain Hardy to the townspeople. The import of the message was this: 'One hour 
will be given to the unoffending inhabitants to leave the town. If this request is not complied with 
I will commence the bombardment.' Captain Hardy's name was signed to this letter and it was a 
name to be respected, for Hardy was a famous sea captain and a close friend of Admiral Nelson, 
England's great naval hero. In fact, it was Hardy who embraced Nelson for the last time as the 
Admiral was dying. 

"The people of Stonington were naturally angered at this unprovoked assault and sent a decidedly 
negative answer back to the commander. Immediately preparations for defence were begun. A 
four-foot breastwork, manned by citizens of the town and defended by two eighteen-poundeis and 
one six -pounder, relics of the Revolution, was hastily erected. Women and children ran hither and 
thither, carrying all sorts of household effects, preparatory to quitting the town. 

"Hardy, upon receiving the indignant message, showed great magnanimity and deferred the 
attack until evening. At 8 o'clock that same evening he ordered the firing to begin. A heavy 
bombardment lasted until midnight, answered frequently from the shore. At sunrise the next morn- 
ing the cannonading was renewed, more vigorously than before. Soon the cannon within the breast- 
work at the head of the breakwater were spiked because of the lack of suitable ammunition. A third 
requisition on New London for powder and shot having been successful they were unspiked and 
again directed against the fleet. General Isham of New London then took command. Soon the 
British sent a landing party in several barges around to the eastern shore of the point, about where 
Mr. Dunham's house or Mr. Broughton's barn now stands. The small six-pounder, in the hands of 
competent men, was dragged across to the threatened spot, one of the eighteen-pounders to the end 
of the point, and soon the British retreated under the galling fire. The ships then slipped their 
cables and advanced slowly toward the town. The people, alarmed at this move, sent out to know 
the reason, and word was returned that if the town would surrender Mrs. Stewart, wife of the British 
consul at New London, they would not be molested further. The authorities denied all knowledge 
of Mrs. Stewart, and also of the fitting out of torpedoes, of which they were also accused. Hardy 



30 

therefore continued the bombardment during the next day, the 11th of August. In the afternoon 
of this day a boat was seen approaching from the fleet, carrying a Hag of truce. A small boat in 
command of my grandfather (Elisha Faxon, Jr.) met this boat. They parlied awhile and finally the 
British, trying to gain the shore, were repulsed by the hardy defenders. The 'Kimrod,' a twenty- 
gun brig, joined the fleet on this day, but did not help matters overmuch. Barges were sent in to 
force a landing, but were repulsed again and again by the gallant defenders of the breastwork. 
Finally the fleet, being in a decidedly crippled condition, weighed anchor on Friday, the 13th, vow- 
ing never to molest Stonington again. 

"Later reports from the 'Dispatch' placed the dead at twenty-one and the wounded at over fifty 
on that vessel alone. Truly the total loss must have been very great compared to that of the towns- 
people who, as far as accounts relate, lost only one, a victim of wounds received. Over sixty tons 
of metal were thrown into the town in the whole bombardment, and many tons were raised from the 
harbor, including two perfectly good anchors left by the retreating vessels. 

"Relics of the battle may be found to this day, and there are many cannon balls now in possession 
of the town and private families. One may see several of these at Dean's Mills or on the posts at 
the entrance to the Library. Not long ago a cannon ball was found in my own yard, the same being 
in our possession now; and one has recently been unearthed in the marsh to the eastward of the 
borough. The fireplace of the Barker house on Water street still contains a large cannon ball. 

"Truly we, the inheritors of this glorious history, should be proud to own Stonington as our 
dwelling place, and should always think with reverence and patriotism of the brave defenders of 
eighteen hundred and fourteen." 

The next number on the programme was "The Star Spangled Banner" 
by the chorus, alter which Professor Otis E. Randall, Dean of Brown 
University, who was born in North Stonington and whose great-grand- 
father, Colonel William Randall, was the militia commander at the 
battle of Stonington, delivered the following address: 

DEAN RANDALL'S ADDRESS 

"You will forgive me, I am sure, if I yield for a few moments to sentimental feelings. These are 
the scenes of my childhood. These beautiful hills and valleys, these old attractive homesteads sur- 
rounded by graceful elms and shading maples, this glorious expanse of water, are just as familiar and 
just as dear to me to-day as they were forty years ago. I have spent the larger part of my life in 
another State and have visited many parts of the world, but I have never forgotten these beautiful 
spots, nor have I ever ceased to be proud of the people with whom it was my good fortune to associ- 
ate during my boyhood days. This is a beautiful place by nature, entirely independent of any 
sentimental feelings which we may have. A few months ago I met a professor at Yale who is to 
retire from active service in a few years. He told me that he had for some time been looking for a 
place on the shore where he might be willing to spend the remainder of his life. He had visited 
every harbor from Canada to the Chesapeake and had finally selected the borough of Stonington as 
the one desirable spot. 

"A hundred years ago this place was the scene of a great battle in which our forefathers made a 
heroic effort to defend their rights and preserve a heritage for you and for me. It is not necessary 
for us to dwell upon the details of the event or to review the history of the war with which we are 
all familiar. No words of ours can portray the hardships which our fathers experienced or the hero- 
ism and the patriotism which they manifested. How often we have listened with the keenest 



31 

interest to tbe story as it has been told to us by our parents and our grandparents, and how proud 
we have been to learn that some of our own ancestors were men enough to be actively engaged in the 
contest. It is a glorious history, and one which we cannot afford to forget or to allow our children 
to forget. We are inclined to live too much in the present. We have too little interest in that 
which has happened in the past. We are too little concerned about that which may take place in 
the future. So long as our present day needs are satisfied, so long as our environment is such as to 
interest and amuse us, we are content. The present, with its great opportunities for temporary 
material advancement, with its multifarious forms of human activity, demands so much of our thought 
and energy that we have little time or tendency to look into the past or to stop long enough to con- 
sider seriously the outcome of the future. 

"We little know how much the efficiency of the present depends upon a thorough knowledge of 
the past. No man can know his place in the world, the nature of the obligations which rest upon 
him or the proper methods of dealing with these obligations, until he knows thoroughly the life and 
experiences of those who have gone before. The great problems of our day concerning our social, 
political and economic welfare, the great problems arising in the fields of science and engineering, 
the great questions which are raised concerning international relations, etc., are in no sense new 
problems or new questions. They may have assumed new forms or may have bean brought forcibly 
to our attention, but they are the same problems and the same questions with which our ancestors 
long ago had to deal. A thorough knowledge of the attitude of past generations toward such ques- 
tions and a full understanding of what has been accomplished by them in the way of solution of 
these problems is certainly essential before the men of this generation can safely and efficiently begin 
their work. 

"It is therefore fitting that we should set these days apart for an appropriate celebration in which 
we may properly recognize the great bravery of cur ancestors, in which we shall show full ap- 
preciation of the sacrifices which they made for us, and in which we shall endeavor to learn and teach 
such lessons as shall be profitable for ourselves and for our children. 

"When our forefathers defended this place against the attacks of the British it was not simply for 
the sake of their own families and their immediate descendants. They were prompted by broader 
and nobler motives than these. They saw the injustice which their fellow men were suffering at the 
hands of the enemy. They saw the unnecessary obstacles placed in the way of those who were 
struggling to make the best of themselves and their opportunities. They saw the future of a great 
nation and a prosperous people. This is why they fought and bled and gave to us our independence, 
our rights and our privileges. Some of us can claim direct descent from those who participated 
in the war, but the benefits which have followed these heroic efforts were no more intended for us 
than for those who have since made their homes here, for those who abide here can desire no less 
than we to make every possible contribution toward our growth and prosperity. Therefore this is a 
celebration in which we are all to be interested, and in which we all should take part. 

"How shall we celebrate this great event? What can we do at this time which shall be appropri- 
ate to the occasion, which would be in accord with the wishes of our forefathers, were they able 
to speak to us to-day ? Many generous contributions of money have been made, a great deal of time 
and thought has been unhesitatingly given in order to make this celebration a most attractive and 
impressive affair and one long to be remembered. We owe a debt of gratitude to those who have 
worked so long and so faithfully for us. 

"Because of the many attractive and interesting features of our celebration, is it not possible 
for us to become so deeply absorbed in the details, so much bound up in the present, as to lose sight 
of that which we are trying to celebrate, as to miss in some degree the great lessons which we should 
learn and teach for the benefit of those who are to come after us ? If we do I am sure you will agree 



32 

with me that we shall fall short of the ideal celebration. That which has to do with the immediate 
present only with no bearing upon the future is of small consequence compared with that which 
shapes and controls the future, and we are not worthy of our noble ancestry if we allow ourselves to be 
so fascinated with that which for the time being is before our eyes as to forget our obligations to the 
future. 

"There are many profitable lessons which we may learn from the great event which we are cele- 
brating and from the lives of those who participated in it. We can touch only upon a few. 

"It is well for us to cultivate from our reflections the spirit of gratitude to God and man for our 
daily blessings. Our blessings are so common and we are so often carried away by our greed for 
more that we are likely to forget the great source of all blessing and to remain in ignorance of the 
sacrifices which have been made for us by those who love and care for us. This is true of the young 
men and the young women of to-day. 

"We certainly ought to learn important lessons concerning the real meaning of perseverance and 
the part it plays in all important undertakings. The youth of to-day are apathetic in their attitude 
toward everything which calls for strenuous effort. They are unwilling to face hardships and make 
sacrifices. They are little inclined to meet and overcome the obstacles of life which we all must 
meet if we hope for any measure of success. We do too much for our children. We make life too 
easy for them. We take pains to relieve them of every burden, to give them the full benefit of every 
labor saving device, and to encourage them by our tenderness to pursue the course of least resistance. 
The same mistake is made in our modern system of education where our young men and women are 
led to believe that life is play, not work. A vivid picture of the struggles of our ancestors, of their 
great and successful effort against odds to protect their rights and their homes, ought to fill our 
youth with ambition and determination and to inspire them to more persistent effort in the face of 
difficulties. 

"We may learn much of the beauty of unselfishness, a virtue which is none too common in this 
age. We are so self centred, we are so greedy for the material things of life and so anxious about our 
own amusement, that we forget our obligations to those about us. We may greatly enhance our own 
happiness and teach our children most valuable lessons by imitating to some degree the unselfish 
lives of those whose memory we hold dear to-day. 

"Another characteristic of those early people which is worthy of our imitation was their genuine 
love of home, for which they would gladly make any sacifice, yea even lay down their lives. The 
home should be the nursery of virtue, the centre of happiness, the source of the nation's power, but 
it cannot be unless the members of the family make the necessary individual contribution. The 
growth of club life and the manifold organizations in which men are interested, the agitation among 
the women over suffrage and other outside activities, the careless attitude of husband and wife 
towards the marriage vows, the early age at which our children are weaned from the home ties and 
influences, show conclusively that the home to-day is not what it was a hundred years ago, and is 
not playing the part which it should in the nation's welfare. 

"In these days of strenuous living, when individual interests are paramount, there is danger of 
losing hold of that spirit of philanthrophy and patriotism which was so prominent in the lives of our 
forefathers. Wealth and power are of small consequence if they must be acquired through the 
advancement of the individual at the cost of the comfort and happiness of the mass. Our great 
armies and battleships mean little in the time of war if there is not behind them all that intense love 
of man and country which leads the individual to forget himself in his interest for others. 

"It is natural for us to regard hardships of every type as unfortunate and undesirable. As we 
look back upon the bitter contests of the past, with the consequent loss of life and property, our 
hearts go out in deepest sympathy for those who were called upon to sacrifice and endure, and we 




DENISON FAMILY 

Mi^ Pliebe S. Denison. Miss Josephine 1!. Denison and Miss Elizabeth H. Robinson in the fore- 
ground. Miss Eliza F. Denison as Lady Ann Borodell, riding 




AMERICAN" VOLUNTEERS OF 18U 
One of the 1S1J cannon in the foreground, with wreath 





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CARKY MAINE 

Veteran drummer from North Stonington. Dr. 

C. Wesley Hale as Hag-bearer 



LADY ANN BORODELL 

Miss Eliza F. Denison of Mystic in the role of 
her ancestress 





REV. AND MRS. JAMES NOYES 

Ira Hart Noyes and Miss Ethel J. R. C. Noyes 

as the first Stonington minister and his wife 



COLUMBIA 

Mrs. Martha H. Miller 



wish these things might not have been. Vet the richest blessings of life spring from trouble and 
suffering. Many a man has been saved from moral ruin or has been led from a life of carelessness 
and indifference to a life of usefulness solely because of personal misfortune. Many a home has been 
saved from rupture when trouble came. The people of the nation, widely scattered over the country, 
forget their feuds and become united by the closest bonds of friendship when they are called upon to 
face a common foe. Without any question the sterling qualities which we have been commending 
in the lives of our ancestors were aroused and stimulated by the hardships and misfortunes which 
they were obliged to meet. 

"We are therefore not celebrating simply a great victory over hostile forces but we are rejoicing 
over the great contribution to our success and happiness which have corneas consequences of the war. 
Let us then enter into the celebration enthusiastically, for in so doing we cannot fail to bring forcibly 
to our minds the high ideals and aspirations of our honored ancestors. Let us learn to the fullest 
extent the lessons which are intended for us to learn. Let us willingly shoulder the responsibilities 
which are plainly ours, and train our youth in such a way as to enable them to take up the tasks of 
life where we must lay them down. 

"If by our exercises here we can succeed in arousing in ourselves and in our children the spirit of 
gratitude, a greater appreciation of privilege, quicker recognition of obligation, truer notions regard- 
ing responsibility, and a greater effort toward the realization of these lofty ideals set forth by our 
ancestors, this great Stonington centennial celebration will be remembered in the distant future long 
after the splendor of the pageant has been forgotten." 

After music by the Mechanics' Band, the following poem, "Stoning- 
ton," by Miss Anne Atwood of the borough, was read by Rev. Charles 
J. Mason of Calvary Episcopal Church : 

MISS ATWOOD'S POEM : STONINGTON 



White houses dreaming in the dusk 
Of green old gardens where, the rows 
Of lilies stand— while over them 
A little sighing whisper goes. 

The shadowed streets are aisles of peace 
Where gentle ghosts go up and down; 
Their light feet fall and make no sound 
In all the twilight-shrouded town. 

The quiet harbor lightly holds 
Winged ships upon her shining breast, 
From sailing over bitter seas 
They have come here at last, to rest. 

And at their mast-heads lamps come out 
Like starflowers in the deepening gloom, 
Swinging a little as they feel 
The shorewind sweet with lilac bloom. 

Or else before the Dawn's still rose, 



The little fishing boats steal by. 
Like wraiths into the trailing mists 
That drift along the Southern sky, 

Dropping below the silent town. 
Below the pallid harbor light 
And out across the silver tide. 
Beyond our wistful shore-bound sight. 

Until the day comes with a clear, 
Bright splendor, walking on the sea. 
And every wave is tipped with flame 
And pearl, and shines most gloriously. 

These are the dreams that come at night 
To exiles half a world away; 
These arc the dreams that lead them back. 
Before such visions who shall say 

Ours is a barren heritage ? 

Beauty is ours in such largesse 

As none can know who has not seen 



34 



Our seasons' changing loveliness. 

Bleak are our bare, unfertile fields. 
Wind-swept our hills and gray our skies. 
But when our winter sunsets flare. 
What flaming golden glory lies 

Upon our uplands; to our shores 
What wistful, tender colors come! 
And, oh, the air is bread and wine 
To us who call the stark hills Home! 

And when the blossom-footed Spring 
Runs over all the waiting land. 
She brings such radiance on her brow. 
Such wealth of beauty in her hand. 

That where her misty banners trail 
Across the meadows gemmed anil brig] ' 
With April, all of life becomes 
A delicate and gay delight. 

White gulls in crystal air, the snow 
Of sails upon an August sea 
Beyond the lowland pastures, rich 
With Summer's joyous pageantry, 

A pageantry that wears into 
Russet and amber, thin blue haze, 
On dim horizons, and the sweet 
Slow sadness of October days. 

And every field and wooded hill 
That sees the blazoned months go by 



Holds at its heart some memory 
Of prayer or song or battle cry. 

Ours is a strange inheritance, 
Sombre and glowing, ice and fire. 
Something of sadness, much of pain, 
Gray abnegation, hot desire. 

Beneath a harsh and sordid mask 

What passionate belief, what fine, 

High courage, what strong, splendid deeds, 

What soaring visions half divine! 



To every man upon this earth 
One spot of all the world is given 
Whereby the spirit that is his 
Fashions itself a dream of Heaven. 

And we who watch the marching tides 
And know the great winds from the sea 
Keep in the dreams our hearts devise 
A certain fine austerity. 

Never for us the sensual 

Warm fragrance of the lotos-dream! 

Ours is a sterner Heaven, lit 

And splendid with the sea's cold gleam. 

Even in death we cannot lose 
Her spaces and her mystery. 
And Paradise will hold for us 
The sound and color of the sea. 



The exercises closed with a benediction by Rev. James E. O'Brien, 
pastor of St. Mary's Roman Catholic Church of the borough. The 
band rendered another selection as the great throng dispersed; and in 
the evening, at 7.30 o'clock, gave an attractive concert at the park. 



MONDAY, AUGUST TENTH 

IKE its two predecessors, Monday, the last day of the celebration, 
■*-^ proved perfect weatherwise. This was the more remarkable as for 
weeks before there had not been three pleasant days in succession. 

The crowds on Monday far outnumbered those of the previous days. 
They came by every conceivable sort of conveyance. The morning 
trains, the trolley cars, automobiles by the hundreds, country vehicles, 
bicycles, the Watch Hill ferry, yachts and motor boats all added to 
Stonington"s unprecedented throng. The trolley company ran seven 
or eight cars, packed with passengers, on a trip. The great majority 
of the stores in Westerly and Mystic closed for the afternoon, as practi- 
cally everybody wished to see the pageant parade. Of this event, the 
climax of the celebration, a writer in the Norwich Bulletin, Leslie T. 
Gager of Stonington, said: 

"Stonington's Battle Centennial, three days blessed with the rich fruitage of human thought and 
effort and crowned by nature's beneficence with blue skies and sunshine and Sound breezes, came 
to a grand and satisfying climax with the great historical pageant Monday afternoon. Ten thousand 
people flocked into the borough to see the portrayal by parade and pageant of the establishment and 
the growth and the successes and glories of the famous town by the 9ea. And they found a most 
wonderful spectacle carried out with a smoothness that was notable, with a wealth of detail that was 
amazing and with a vividness that made those scene9 of days of yore strike home with a thrill to 
their descendants of to-day. This pageant was more than a show — a superficial representation of 
generations that are past and their ways of life and action — it was the past being lived out by the 
present in a virile, red-blooded fashion, it was the spirit of the men and women of the old Stonington, 
showing forth in those of the new. 

"It was a pageant unique, one that can rarely be held. Few places there are that can boa9t, 
like Stonington, of so many threads, and they of so many colors, as those that are woven into the 
web of Stonington's history. Exploration, conquest, settlement, defence, a call to adventure that 
led her mariners to scour every sea, a spirit of patriotism that brought her sons, followed by her 
daughters' prayers and hopes, to fight on the fields of every war, and in times of peace to bear a 
worthy part in public service — these are some of the things thus recalled once more to memory that 
made Stonington's pageant really great and worth while. Those sturdy men and noble women of 
colonial days and of war times, worthily represented by their descendants, arouse pride in the past, 
emulation in the present, ambition for the future. And thus Stonington's celebration reached the 
culmination of its true significance on Monday afternoon, after three days that have been really in 
themselves history-making in the old south county town." 

The Westerly Sun said: 

"An artist's brush could not paint, nor could an author's pen portray, a more pleasing and realistic 
picture than was presented yesterday afternoon in Stonington borough by the pageant parade which 

35 



36 

was a part of the three days' celebration of the Battle of Stonington anniversary. In this wonderful, 
fanciful, yet realistic picture of two centuries of Stonington life, not a chapter was omitted. From 
the coming of Adrian Block, in 1614, to the time, in 1814, when the brave men of the borough pro- 
tected their families and homes from the powerful guns of the British fleet and ultimately drove 
them from the harbor, the principal periods were introduced. The costumes were unique and 
attractive and pictured in a true sense the dress of the old. historic time." 

THE MOTOR BOAT RACES 

During the morning the principal events of the celebration were a 
concert by Fairman's First Light Artillery Band of Providence at 
Wadawanuck park and the motor boat races from a line drawn from 
the head of the inner breakwater to a stakeboat anchored near the west 
breakwater. Thence the course was to the red can buoy on the north 
end of Middle Ground Shoal, and thence to the starting line. Silver 
cups were offered for boats in three classes: Class C, boats making less 
than twelve miles an hour; distance five miles. Class B, boats making 
from twelve to eighteen miles an hour; distance ten miles. Class A, 
boats making eighteen miles or more an hour; distance fifteen miles. 

A light fog delayed the start of the races, which had been set for nine 
o'clock, until about 10.30. There were no entrances in Class C. In 
Class B the following were the boats entered and their elapsed times for 
ten miles (twice over the course): 

No. 1— Aloah, B. L. Bristol, Jr., Avondale, finished fifth. Time 47.52. 

No. 2 — Vida, E. F. Darrell, Stonington. finished first. Time 44.17. 

No. 3 — Dido, C. J. Mason, Jr., Stonington, finished sixth. Time 52.36. 

No. 4— Lulu B., Herbert Brooks, Mystic, finished fourth. Time 47.36. 

No. 6 — Kanigo, Courtlandt W. Babcock, Stonington, finished second. Time 44.20 

No. 7 — Rika. August Schnellen, Stonington, finished third. Time 46.20. 

This was a handicap race and Dido was the winner, with Aloah 
second. 

In Class A the following were the entries and their elapsed times for 
fifteen miles (three times over the course): 

No. 1— Bull Moose II, Frank J. Gregory, New York, finished first. Time 36.13. 
No. 2 — Hare, Robert Moore, Jr., New London, finished second. Time 37.34. 
No. 3— Elreba, Harry A. Darlington, Pittsburgh, finished fourth. Time 44.14. „ 
No. 4 — Hadji, Harry A. Darlington, Jr., finished third. Time 41.56. 

No. 5— Minnehaha III, Harry McNutt, Mystic, was obliged to withdraw at end of fourth 
lap on account of being in a leaking condition from being struck by another boat. 




PALMKK FAMILY 




MARCHING CHORUS OF SCHOOL CHILDREN 





INDIAN" PRINCESS 
Mrs. Albert Wilson of Stonington 



SYMBOLIC FIGURE 

.Miss Maud Cammon of New York 




WHALING DAYS 

Charles E. Staplin. 2d. at left. William H. Hal- 

lett with harpoon. The whaleboat was brought 

expressly from New Bedford for the Pageant 



37 

Elreba was declared winner on lime allowance and Hare second. 

The committee members were on the yacht Igloo, owned by Dr. F. 
T. Rogers of Providence. They were Chauncey B. Rice, Lorenzo D. 
Fairbrother, Harry W. Babcock. Theodore Dewhurst, Charles H. 
Simmons and Edward F. Darrell. 

The harbor was a gay sight during the races, with a large number of 
decorated yachts and motor craft at anchor. The bunting-dressed town 
in the background, and the torpedo-boat destroyer division in the offing 
— with the exception of the Terry, which lay at the head of the steam- 
boat wharf and was open to the inspection of visitors — added to the 
beaut j' of the scene. 

THE UNVEILING OF THE TABLET 

At noon a company of several hundred people gathered at the head 
of the old breakwater, near the corner of Water and Trumbull streets, 
to be present at the unveiling of the memorial tablet erected on the site 
of the 1814 fort. The tablet had been erected on the east side of the 
brick office building of the Atwood Machine Company, where a plat- 
form provided seats for the speakers of the occasion and a large number 
of invited guests. 

After music by Fairman's Band, Rev. John O. Barrows of Norwich- 
town, formerly minister of the First Congregational (Road) Church, 
offered prayer and Dr. James H. Weeks, President of the Stonington 
Historical and Genealogical Society, holding up the battle flag of 1814, 
said : 

ADDRESS OF DR. WEEKS 

,- By way of introduction let me present to your admiring gaze the old flag that waved over this 
spot 100 years ago to-day and extend to all a most hearty welcome to an occasion which has for its 
purpose the permanent marking of the place where the Stonington defenders of 1814 stood to battle 
a common foe. 

"Our exercises to-day are in a special manner such as will live in the memory of all here and we 
shall appropriately mark a place where heroism was displayed, for the men who stood behind the 
guns in the old redoubt fought for their homes and to bring an added honor to our commonwealth. 

"We have heard for a long time what the men did at Stonington, and it is right that we should. 
It is eminently fitting, however, that a body of women known as the United States Daughters of 
1812 of Connecticut should have a large part in our celebration, for did not the women of 



Stonington in August, 1814, prepare the bread, corn and other foods which enabled the men to retain 
their strength that they might hold out till the battle was won? Yes, over the hot fires on many a 
hearth on those hot August days was prepared the food by wives, daughters and sweethearts which 
brought courage to the hard-struggling men and which also reminded them that the homes of loved 
ones must be preserved. This is not fiction, but hard facts which have been handed down to us. 
The women knew that the men were doing yeomen's service and tbey were willing to bear their 
share of the burden. 

"And my friends, your part in this centennial makes for permanency; it is thus far the only 
feature which has, and as the fair hand of this young lady draws aside the colors which now hide the 
beautiful tablet, I am sure our people will take this gift and cherish it. 

"As we read its bronzed letters, may they tver be a reminder to us as well as to those who came 
after, that our borough, town, State and nation require our best service. Stonington had her defenders 
in the American Revolution, in the conflict of 181-2, in the Civil War period and if 1 mistake not the 
higns of the times, they are with us still. 

"The lesson then for us is that the State and humanity demand our best service. Be proud of this 
history of your town and commonwealth. There was more than the saving of a few homes at stake 
in the Battle of Stonington, fought from this spot. There was that deep instinct bred of love for a 
country where God rules and every man is free. 

"Our assembly is made possible to-day by the quick work of the men who fought here 100 years 
ago to-day. We honor them and, as citizens, should make a much closer study of that conflict. 
Join then with us in a hearty manner in these very fitting exercises, thus honoring ourselves as well 
as those we seek to honor." 

"The Flag of Stonington'* was then sung by the school chorus with 
band accompaniment, and Mrs. Clarence F. R. Jenne, President of the 
United States Daughters of 1812 in Connecticut, spoke as follows: 

MRS. JENNE'S REMARKS 

"The desire to perpetuate the memory of notable events is instinct in the human race. You 
will remember that it was Joshua, the warrior priest, who bade the leaders of Israel each to take a 
stone from the bed of the river Jordan and with them to build a monument to commemorate a crisis 
in their history. 'When your children shall ask, what mean ye by these stones? ye shall tell them of 
the marvellous parting of the waters of the river that your fathers might pass through on dry land.' 

"Thus you will see that it is right and fitting for us to gather here this summer morning to place 
and to dedicate a simple memorial which will serve for many generations yet to come as a reminder 
of the bravery and heroism displayed by those patriots who defended the town of Stonington against 
the British, one hundred years ago to-day. 

"It is the mark of affection to remember their deeds, and we place this memorial not in any spirit 
of boastfulness, but in the interest of history, and to preserve the memory of those heroes who were 
willing to do and to die, if need be, to protect their families, their homes and their country from the 
hands of the enemy. 

"This may not be holy ground upon which we have gathered, but it is certainly historic ground, 
and on this occasion we love to dwell upon the thrilling scenes which were enacted here so long ago. 

"We marvel at that brave garrison of about a score of men who fought so well that they not only 
kept the British from landing on this shore but nearly sank the whole fleet. 

"It is a tale of victory from the beginning to the close, and the repulse of the British at Stonington 
proved to be oje of the most gallant affairs of the War of 1812. 



39 

"At this time and in this place I desire to make mention of the own daughters and sons of the par- 
ticipants of this memorable battle; some of them are with us to-day, and we are honored by their 
presence. 

" We are glad to look into their faces and to grasp them by the hand, for they bind the past to 
the present, and we all join with them in honoring the memory of their noble fathers and mothers 
'who have foupht their last battle and sleep their last sleep.' 

"Now your honor, Warden of the borough of Stonington, I take great pleasure, on behalf and 
in the name of the National Society of the United States Daughters of 1812, State of Connecticut, to 
offer through you to the borough this completed memorial tablet and ask at your hands its accept- 
ance and formal dedication.'' 

At the conclusion of Mrs. Jenne's remarks, the tablet was unveiled 
by Miss Rosamond Spencer Holmes of Providence, great-great-grand- 
daughter of Captain Jeremiah Holmes, who commanded the battery 
during a part of the battle. One of the flags which had covered the 
memorial was given to her, while the other will be kept by the Stoning- 
ton Historical Society. 

Warden Cornelius B. Crandall accepted the gift in behalf of the bor- 
ough of Stonington. He said : 

"It gives mc grcit pleasure to accept this tablet presented by the Daughters of 1812 to mark the 
spot of the old fort, and I assure you It always will be prized and kept in memory of the brave 
defenders of Stonington." 

The tablet is of bronze, 30x23 inches in size, and has the following 
inscription : 

"1814— 19U 

Near this spot was located 

the fort in which the defenders of 

Stonington, Connecticut, 

bravely battled and drove the 

British squadron from our shores 

ninth, tenth and eleventh of August, 

eighteen hundred and fourteen. 

Erected by the National Society of 

United States Daughters of 1812, 

State of Connecticut." 

Following the acceptance of the tablet by Warden Crandall and the 
singing of "America' ' by the school chorus and audience, accompanied 
by the band, a brief address was given by Mrs. William Gerry Slade, 
President of the National United States Daughters of 1812. 

Mrs. Slade put the stamp of approval on the work of the State Society 
and told how much the organization of which she was a member meant 



40 

to her. She spoke in defence of the War of 1812. She said that too 
many had the opinion that the war did not amount to much, that Great 
Britain had used all her power to get her colonial possessions back after 
the Revolution and at the outbreak of the second war looked upon the 
citizens of the United States as rebels. She gave a short sketch of the 
war and said that the battle at Stonington came at a time when the 
Hartford Convention had been in session — an assemblage embodying 
the dissatisfaction in New England with the war. As the British shots 
were fired at Stonington, the Convention was broken up and the ener- 
gies of Connecticut were given to the saving of home and country. By 
the breaking up of the Convention every thought that had not been in 
accord with the principle involved in the war turned into ardent patriot- 
ism and each man sprang to the task of defence. Had the people of 
Stonington yielded at this time, the Hartford Convention would prob- 
ably have resumed, and no one can tell what the result would have 
been. The courage of the defenders of this town obscured everything 
but the country's cause. To Stonington belongs the credit thus of 
being the turning point in the saving of the nation. Mrs. Slade spoke 
of the noble inheritance that the present generation in Stonington pos- 
sesses, and in conclusion paid a tribute to the women who played then- 
part in the defence of the place. 

Governor Baldwin was next introduced. He said : 

GOVERNOR BALDWIN'S ADDRESS 

"Anniversary celebrations of great events have a high motive and a true use. 

"The tablet which we dedicate to-day commemorates one of the marked events in the history of 
Eastern Connecticut. A naval force under the command of one of Lord Nelson's greatest commodores 
and warmest friends. Sir Thomas Hardy, was driven back by a few gunners on this spot one hundred 
years ago. Some of those who served the gunners so well came from Massachusetts, some came 
from the original militia of Connecticut, 'detached,' as the phrase ran, for such service, under an 
act of Congress passed April 10, 1K12. Some of the men came from neighborhood volunteers. Part 
of these probably learned the art of gunnery as privateers; part in their younger days as soldiers in 
the Revolutionary army. A man who was twenty years of age at the close of the Revolution, we 
must remember, would have been about fifty-one years old in 1K14. Wherever they learned it. they 
learned it well. 

"Since those days the use of heavy guns has become largely an affair of precise mathematical 
calculations worked out on paper. Electricity gives its aid: the man who fires is not the man who 
directs the aim. There is less of the human element in the business, and more of the mechanical. 





CAMP FIRE GIRLS FROM PAWCATUCK, MYSTIC AND STONINGTON 




STONINGTON GIRLS CARRYING AN AMERICAN FLAG 




CHILDRKN OK 1775 AND hit 



41 

"The results are more certain, the work is more deadly. Thus we proceed in what, to me, seems 
the gradual progress of human society from organized war to organized peace. It is a gradual 
progress; but all too slow. It is a gradual progress, although it may be for a time interrupted, as at 
this hour, by war of the bitterest type between the greatest nations. 

"America this year will present a better record as to military affairs thtn does Europe. The 
quieting of Mexico by the Pan-American mediation will make it a year long to be remembered here' 
as making a new tie of Continential brotherhood with all our sister republics. 

"We of the United States are fortunate in having no neighbors strong enough to measure sword 
with us. We are fortunate in having no allies to call upon us to fight for them. We are fortunate 
thai there is but one people between New York and San Francisco, for a stretch of three thousand miles. 
Europe is a complex aggregate of separate governments interlaced geographically, so as to give 
opportunity for frequent misunderstandings, nnd. we may frankly say, sometimes, for acts of 
oppression exercised by the greater powers against the lesser. 

"The great war which now darkens Europe and her Asiatic dependencies will be an object lesson 
showing the impolicy of risking such a state of affairs as now confronts those continents. 

"Surely the human race mu9t eventually come to some better mode of adjusting internationa 
differences, than the rule of the stronger. This war now raging may hasten alon.s? that time. 

"Justice between nations is the only thing worth striving for by statesmen. Justice is bes 
administered by judicial authority. I hope that this very century in which we live will not close 
before there is a real judicial court of nations, authorized to decide controversies which diplomacy 
cannot settle. If that day comes it will cast no shadows over the past. The story of great action 
like Gettysburg and Waterloo, and of lesser actions like those whose centenary we are celebrating 
will be preserved in the pages of history and the hearts of men. and the defence of Stonington, wit 
nessed by this tablet, will still remain a treasured memory, forever dear to every son and daughter 
of Connecticut." 

The chief address of the unveiling ceremonies was delivered by Hon. 
Abel. P. Tanner of New London, who said : 

ADDRESS BY HON. ABEL P. TANNER 

"The circumstance that I was not born in this town and have not lived among you for a good many 
years — precludes the right I once had to address you as "Fellow Townsmen," and I must forego that 
salutation now. I am consoled, however, by the fact that there was a time, as your land records 
will show, when Stonington and my native town were one — when even my adopted city was in the 
game circuit, and all the magistrates sat side by side. 

"But Stonington has yet other claims to historic distinction. I will enumerate some of them, 
It was one of the first if not the first to suggest a convention of all the colonies, in the crisis imme- 
diately preceding the American Revolution; and, of that suggestion, in 1774, the first Continental 
Congress was born. In the next place, it raised by subscription, that same year, a substantial fund 
and sent it to the distressed inhabitants of Boston after that port had been closed by the king. And 
somewhere in its archives may be found, to-day, the acknowledgment of that gift, by the martyr. 
General Warren, in which he said: 'When liberty is the prize, who would shun war?' And. curiously, 
Stonington was invincible in war. It was the only town on the Connecticut coast to successfully 
resist invasion, in either war with England. Neither Commodore Wallace, in 1775, nor Commodore 
Hardy, in 1814, was able to reduce this Port. 

"We are concerned to-day with an incident in the second war with England, known as the War of 
1812. I presume most of you are familiar with the causes of that war, and probably know that it 



42 

was due, mainly, to European complications. For then, as now, Europe was aflame with war. It is 
a condition it will always be subject to as long as conquest lures and men have lost their reason and 
a people can be swayed by the impudent assertion of the divine right of kings. 

"Great Britain, then in need of naval recruits in her continental struggle, was insisting on the 
right to search our ships, under the pretext of looking for British subjects. At that time she was in 
alliance with other great powers against the first Napoleon; and between her 'orders in council' and 
his continental system, and our own embargo, our foreign commerce was nearly destroyed. Our 
merchant ships were being condemned in foreign ports, our protests ignored and sailors impressed 
from under our flag. We bore it discreetly through many patient years until it became the boast 
cf the British press that 'you couldn't kick the United States into a war with England.' When, 
finally. Congress did declare war there were hundreds in this country who said it was premature. 
And they did what they could to embarass the conduct of the war. to discourage enlistments, and 
force a dishonorable peace. Still, somehow, we carried the war on; and when, at last, peace was 
declared it made no mention of the cause of the war; the treaty of Ghent was silent upon the question 
of search. And so peace was criticised, as war had been. Nevertheless, that martial enterprise 
stopped impressments, and the 'peace of a hundred years' attests the wisdom of its consummation. 

"We are commemorating, now. an event of that war, as it transpired here; and, thanks to the 
patriotic societies, you have set up a memorial — a bronze inscription that will be read in futurity 
when we have disappeared. And there is a kind of solemnity about it all. It reminds us that all 
centennials are sad. When one is observed, it is rarely met again by the same individuals, on this 
mortal journey; its greeting is 'Hail and Farewell.' A century hence, another generation will 
celebrate this day, we hope, with some measure of devotion, but we will not be here. Long ere that 
time we will have mouldered to forgotten dust. To-day we hold the centre of the stage in this pass- 
ing show; we drink to the memory of these heroes, dead. who. with sublime courage, faced the 
iron storm of war; but they who will gather here a hundred years to come will know us not. To 
them we will not even be a memory. Still, we are not cast down. We come not to exalt ourselves, 
but with grateful appreciation; and we aim to do justice to the dead. Historians have not always 
done justice to the event we celebrate. Most of them have given it but scanty mention in military 
annals; some, indeed, have affected to treat it with careless indifference. Yet, all things considered 
it was one of the most brilliant exploits in the course of that war. Recollect that no other defence 
was successful on the New England coast during the British invasions. Even the gallant Decatur 
was driven up the Thames river and couldn't get out. Consider, for a moment, the inequalities of 
the contest. On the one hand, five ships of war (including the Nimrod, on the second day) one of 
them among the largest in the British navy— an overwhelming marine force — with 160 guns, and 
mortars that threw 12-inch shells; the whole under the command of a brilliant naval officer. At that 
time Commodore Hardy was in the prime of life. He had fought gallantly at Copenhagen, at Gi- 
braltar, and the battle of the Nile; and the great Nelson had died in his arms amid the thunders of 
Trafalgar. And against this formidable flotilla was what? A contingent of militia operating three 
pieces of artillery, with insufficient ammunition; scantily protected by a small redoubt in which but 
few could find shelter; yet so ably maneuvering as to thwart all attempts of the enemy to land, and 
finally compelling it to withdraw altogether. And when you remember that during that three days' 
bombardment over sixty tons of metal was thrown into this place, with every kind of missile, and 
that the defenders were continually under fire, you get some idea of the skill, the resourcefulness 
and the prodigious valor of the Americans engaged. 

"A concrete narrative of all that took place in this village a century ago. between it and a British 
squadron, would doubtless be of interest, if time and circumstance permitted. But it is obviously 
impossible in any address of reasonable length, and I shall not undertake it now. It is sufficient to 



43 

say that Commodore Hardy drew near on the afternoon of the ninth of August, with five ships of 
war, including the bomb ship Terror, and at 4 o'clock he sent inland his grim despatch giving the 
•unoffending inhabitants' one hour to depart. Can we wonder that tradition says the people were 
horrified, or that leading citizens thought of compromise, in the town's defenceless condition? When 
eventually they were informed that no 'arrangement' could be made, they might then have fled with 
the 'unoffending inhabitants' and no court martial would have pursued them into retirement. In- 
stead they returned to the British commander that defiance worthy of Thermopylae: 'We will defend 
this place to the last extremity, and if it must be destroyed we will perish with it.' 

"The commander of the fleet, for some reason, presumably humane as became that chivalrous offi- 
cer, delayed the attack beyond the appointed hour, so that those who would could get away. But. 
at 7 in the evening, he began a furious cannonade which, for four hours, jeopardized life and prop- 
erty in this practically defenceless town. And may we conceive the effect of that scene, on a 
people unused to war, facing a hostile fleet, amid the roar of cannon; exploding rockets and 
bursting shells; the night made lurid by conflagration. A contemporary has said that there was 
nothing very spectacular in the bombardment of Stonington; that it was an insignificant affair. But 
the record does not sustain him. A chronicler, of the time, has described it as 'a grand and awful 
spectacle.' And we can assume it was spectacular enough to those who were actors in it; to the 
men who manned the defences; who patrolled the streets and shore, or waited, with alternate hopes 
and fears, on the neighboring hills. Three times, under the cover of their fire, the enemy sought to 
land marines on both sides of the peninsula, but they were as often repulsed by the tire from the re- 
doubt, and by musketry and cannon on the shore. In this repelling process, the youthful Jabez S. 
Swan, afterwards the famous pulpit orator, bore a meritorious part. Meanwhile, Colonel Randall, a 
brave and energetic officer, arrived with a portion of the Thirtieth regiment, which, after a brief pa- 
rade back of the 'York House." marched to the rear of the redoubt, forming a line of support. This 
completed the affair of the ninth. 

"The morning of the tenth brought, among other volunteers, Captain Jeremiah Holmes of Mys- 
tic—a resolute man — who had acquired a knowledge of artillery practice while serving, involuntarily, 
as an impressed seaman in the British navy. It contributes to the irony of the occasion, that, by 
persisting in the offence which caused the war. England, in one instance at least, conspired to its 
own defeat. For Captain Holmes was given command of the redoubt; and, by his skillful manip- 
ulation of its guns, much damage was done to the fleet. Unfortunately, at this point the ammuni- 
tion failed, and for nearly three hours the little garrison was obliged to remain inactive under a 
galling fire. It was during this period, when the village seemed at the mercy of the enemy, that 
some one suggested lowering the flag, disabling the guns, and abandoning the defence. But 
Captain Holmes declared with emphasis that the flag should never come down while he was alive, 
and he ordered it nailed to the staff. At 1 o'clock, a new supply of ammunition having arrived, 
firing from the fort was resumed, and with telling effect. Captain Holmes now double-shotted his 
guns and sighted thein so accurately that the Dispatch, which had ventured nearest the shore, was 
'hulled' at each discharge and soon compelled to retire. The bombardment continued, at intervals, 
for some time longer, until the arrival of General Isham from New London with a strong force made 
further demonstration by the enemy useless; whereupon its baffled commander reluctantly with- 
drew. And thus ended the battle of Stonington. In alluding to it afterwards. General Root said 
in Congress, in 1817 : 

" 'There was one achievement that sheds lustre on the American character, the defence of Ston- 
ington. A more brilliant affair did not take place during the late war. It was not rivalled by the 
defence of the Sandusky, the attempt at Niagara, or the victories of Erie and Champlain. The 
whole was achieved by men who covered themselves with unfading laurels.' 



44 

"In conclusion, one incident remains to be told — a tragic incident, that reveals and accents tire 
pathos of war. The casualties of this midsummer campaign were few; perhaps less than a 
hundred, all told. But they included some whose names have lived. Among these were two 
amiable young men, barely nineteen years of age, who fought on opposite sides. One was a commis- 
sioned officer— a lieutenant of marines, perhaps an only son who would see the hills of Old England 
no more. He was killed in one of the earlier clashes along this coast and his body lies not in his 
native land. Yet, thanks to a chivalrous foe who understood, it abides in hallowed ground. 
To-day, 1 commend the thoughtful tenderness with which the people of Stonington have remembered 
the lonely grave of Thomas Barrett Powers. The other was a Mystic boy, the lamented 
Frederick Denis )n, who, left at home by his older brothers during the main attack, could not 
appease his martial spirit, in the echo of battle, but seized a musket and hastened after. 
Later, while acting as an aide outside of the redoubt, he was struck by the fragment of a 
rock splintered by a cannon shot, and mortally injured. As his comrades sought to remove him 
to a safer place, he begged them to leave him and continue the defence. Thus perished these 
gallant young men in the carnage of battle, each for a separate Cause. We do not now ponder 
their opposite views. Their differences seem less consequential, in the retrospect of a hundred 
years. We forget to-day on which side they fought or what uniforms they wore, and remember 
only their courage and their sacrifices. They spoke the same tongue; they belonged to the same 
race; and the soil of one country holds them both." 

The next number on the programme was a poem by Miss Grace 
Denison Wheeler of Stonington. 



MISS WHEELER'S POEM 



One hundred years ago to-day 
Our fathers stood upon this soil, 

And heard their English cousins say, 
Our guns will soon your homes despoil. 

But brave of heart and strong of hand 
Their homes so dear they must defend. 

So here the guns were brought to stand, 
And here they worked until the end. 

Within this Battery's little space, 
Stood fourteen men that August day; 

Then fourteen others took their place 
To drive the British ships away. 

Right here our flag was lifted high, 
And out upon the wind that blew, 

Where it was seen by every eye, 

Old Olory its brave challenge threw. 

And when at last 'twas seen to fall, 
Determination filled each eye, 

George Fellows grasped Dean Gallup tall, 
And with a Chesebrough lifted high. 



Till on their shoulders straight he stood. 
And raised the flag, so fresh that morn. 

Fast to its staff, as best he could, 

He nailed our colors, pierced and torn. 

Those men were heroes, bold and true. 

Who fired the guns and chalked the plank, 

And worked unceasing, though but few, 
Without regard to file or rank. 

The names of Holmes and Fellows play 

Important part, as do they all. 
We honor every one to-day. 

As here their work we now recall. 

And so the Daughters Eighteen Twelve, 
Who glory in their father's creeds, 

And in the records as they delve, 
Delight to honor their brave deeds. 

Have placed this Tablet here to show 

Where stood the Battery and where fought 

The men who hastened then to go 
Where love of liberty was wrought. 





COLONIAL DAYS IN STONINGTON 



•-v X* ' ' 




ANOTHKK COLONIAL GROUP 




CAPTAIN KlUD 
T. Whitridge Cutler as the Pirate-in-Chief. The pirate's chest may be seen just behind him, 

borne by two associate buccaneers 



45 

And too this Tablet marks the place Our fathers' fathers' worthy deed 
Where, later, men were wont to meet, Should in our hearts a zeal inspire 

And tell how in this little space, To emulate and far exceed 
The British met their just defeat. In Patriotism's holy fire. 

At the conclusion of Miss Wheeler's poem, Rev. George B. Marston 
of the First Baptist Church pronounced a benediction, and the band 
rendered a final selection. 

The Daughters of 1812 were entertained at luncheon in the Congre- 
gational Church parlors. 

THE SITE OF THE FORT 

Following is the report of the findings of Ur. James H. Weeks, who 
was appointed by the Executive Committee to determine the site of the 
old fort: 

"It becomes my duty to report to you my findings in relation to the location of the old fort used 
by the defenders at Stonington in August, 1814, when they drove Commodore Thomas M. Hardy 
and his Meet of British ships from our shores. 

"All vestige of the fortification having been obliterated years ago, it was only possible to reach my 
conclusion from the interviews had with a number of persons who have lived for many years in Ston- 
ington and who have heard their elders talk of the location. 

"There can be no question but it was located just south of the east or shore end of the inside 
breakwater, which was constructed by the United States Government and commenced about 18-20, 
and in the building of this no doubt part of the earthwork was torn away. This would locate it in a 
definite manner on the land now owned by the Atwood Machine Company, of Stonington, on which 
is at present located the company's office, as well as the Brown house, so-called, and on a portion of 
the land of Mrs. Henry L. Teed. 

"Some of those interviewed do not just put the location on the same spot, although within the 
same radius. They all agree as to the main points. Edward H. Sheffield, who has a good memory 
of early events in Stonington, said (Sept. 10, 1913): 'My father, Staunton Sheffield, had a shipyard 
on the lands now occupied by the Atwood Machine Company's office and lands adjoining to the 
south, and it covered quite a piece of ground. About where the present shore line is was located the 
sawpit, and the workmen would tell the boys if they would dig out the accumulated sawdust they 
would find the bombs and cannonballs used by the British in the battle of Stonington. This, he 
said, was the method used to get the pit dug out at little expense. I always understood that the fort 
was located on the shipyard land." 

"Judge Gilbert Collins of Jersey City said: 'The space between the Atwood Machine Company 
shop and the lands of Mrs. Henry L. Teed was always pointed out to me as the exact location of the 
old fort.' 

"Postmaster Nathaniel P. Noyes, a lifelong resident of Stonington always interested in matters of a 
historic nature, said: "My father always pointed out to us boys that the fort stood where the Atwood 
Machine Company's office building now stands.' His father, Franklin Noyes, was nine years old 
when the battle was fought and saw many of the bomb9 fired at the defenders. For many years he 



46 

owned a heavy shirt which was thrown overboard from the bombship Terror during the engagement, 
which had on it in large letters the name of the ship. Mr. Noyes further said the spot he showed his 
sons was at one time the shipyard of Staunton Sheffield and just at the shore end of the breakwater. 

•'Charles B. States said: "When I was a boy, there stood a stump of a flagpole on the land now 
occupied by the frame structure of the Atwood Machine Company, north of the present entrance to 
the breakwater.' He does not think the flagpole the one used at the time of the battle but always 
understood that the fort was just southwest of the location given above. This would place it on the 
Jand already cited by those previously named. 

"Mrs. Harriet Bennett was seen and said: 'My mother always said the fort, which was thrown up 
hastily when the Stonington people drove Hardy away, was at the point on which now stand the 
Brown and Teed houses.' She well remembered the old shipyard and the building of the lightships 
by Staunton Sheffield and helped to make a set of colors for the first one constructed. She agreed 
with the others and thus we may feel that we have good evidence as to the location of the redoubt." 



THE PATRIOTIC AND PAGEANT PARADE 

During the early hours of the afternoon the crowds from the neigh- 
boring towns and countryside were busy choosing points of vantage 
from which to watch the coming parade, while the participants in the 
parade could be seen, in all sorts of picturesque costumes, making their 
way by hundreds to the assembly point — the Atwood lot on Elm street. 
To the casual observer it might appear that these variegated units in 
the great show could never be brought into a congruous relationship. 
Pequot Indians, Revolutionary maidens, Dutch voyagers, British sol- 
diers, American militiamen and seventeenth-century pioneers, parsons 
and pirates struggled up the hill in seemingly hopeless confusion. Yet 
out of these diverse elements was woven a pictorial drama consistent 
from start to finish, with a fine thread of vigor and patriotism running 
through it and a telling consummation in the "Victory" float. No one 
who witnessed this fine series of "moving pictures" will ever forget 
the beauty and sentiment of the scene. 

A few minutes after three o'clock the long procession, composed of 
1400 costumed or uniformed participants, started down Elm street in 
the following formation : 

Eleventh Coast Artillery Band. 
Battalion of United States Coast Artillery from Fort H. G. Wright, Major E. L. Glasgow in com- 
mand; (211 men, including band). 
Sailors from the United States Torpedo-Boat Destroyers Terry, Walke, Monaghan, Sterrett and 

Perkins, Captain A. W. Fitch in command; (about 130 men). 
Members of the Grand Array of the Republic. J. F. Trumbull. Hancock. Williams and Budlong 

Posts. 

The Pageant-Parade of Stonington. 

(The pageant-parade in detail will be found beginning on page 49). 

Real Sons and Daughters of 1814. 

Westerly Band. 

Marching Chorus of School Children. 

Boy Scouts of Stonington, James H. Stivers, Scout Master; W. F. Broughton. Jr., Assistant. 

Westerly, Silas T. Nye, G. Benjamin Utter. Scout Masters; D. Harold Rogers, Charles 

Fowler, H. Russell Burdick, Assistants. Mystic. Flavius Cheney, Scout Master. 

Tierney Cadets, Bernard Rose, Captain. 

Music was furnished by the Coast Artillery Band, the Mechanics' 
Band of Stonington, Fairman's Band of Providence, the East Hamp- 
ton (Conn.) Fife and Drum Corps, the Chesebrough Fife and Drum 

47 



48 

Corps of Stonington, the Westerly Hand and the drum and bugle 
corps of the Boy Scouts and the Tierney Cadets. The line of march 
was down Elm street to Main street, up Main street to and around 
Mathews Park, down Water street to Omega street, through Omega 
street to Hancox street, up Hancox street to Diving street, through 
Diving street to Main street, up Main street to Cutler street and to the 
tent in Stanton Field, where luncheon was spread for all those in line. 

It is impossible to say how many persons saw the parade. The 
estimates run from ten thousand upward. There were great masses of 
spectators along the shaded sections of the streets, particularly on Elm 
street above the railroad crossing, in the neighborhood of Wadawanuck 
Square, around Mathews Park and on parts of Water and Main streets. 
Many of the photographs of the parade give a wrong impression in this 
respect because the photographers naturally chose places where 
there were few onlookers and plenty of sun. A special effort has 
been made, therefore, in compiling this book, to secure photographs 
which give some idea of the density of the throng, and some of these 
are printed in spite of the fact that, being taken in the shade, they are 
not as clear as most of those taken in a strong light. It is unfortunate 
that, so far as known, there is no picture in existence that shows the 
solid wall of automobiles and spectators near the railroad station and 
Mathews Park. The number of motor cars along this portion of 
the route of the procession is estimated to have been several hundreds, 
all vehicles having been barred from entering the borough limits during 
the hours of the parade. 

Following is a detailed record of the pageant. It is taken directly 
from the official programme, which while approximately correct could 
not foresee the dropping out of a promised performer here and there, and 
was printed too soon to include a few of the latest comers. An effort 
has been made to correct the record, but it remains possibly here and 
there incomplete. As it stands, however, it is practically an exact 
report of what may fairly be called a fine historical spectacle. 




THE OLD STAGE COACH 
Colonial relic from Farmington 




COLONIAL SCHOOLMASTER AND SCHOOL 
Rev. Dwight C. Stone as Schoolmaster 




WOMEN OF THE REVOLUTION 

By North Stonington, Mystic and Stonington 




AMERICAN CAVALRY OF L81 I 
Citizens of the Road District in battle array 



THE PAGEANT-PARADE OF STONINGTON 

1614-1814 

Virginia Tanner, Director of Pageant. 

Introductory 
Figure Symbolic of Stonington — Mrs. Henry Robinson Palmer. 
Banner— "Stonington Celebration. 1814-1914." 
Flagbearers— United States Flag. Edward T. Dennehey; Connecticut Stats Flag, John W. Chamber- 
lain; Stonington Flag. William E. Rose. 

SECTION I 
The Coming of Adrian Block 

[Adrian Block and his Dutch crew explored the southern coast of New England in 16H, just 300 
yean ago. Fisher's Island was named for one of his crew, and Block Island for the commander of the 
expedition himself. Block was sent out in the ship Tiger from Hoorn, Holland, (from which Cape 
Horn was named), in 1613 by the Dutch East India Company, whose colors are displayed in this sec- 
tion. The Tiger was burned, and he built the Onrust or Restless, 44. feet in length, one of the first 
vessels— if not the first— built by white men in America. Block probably dropped anchor in Stoning- 
ton harbor; at any rate he sailed into the Pawcatuck river, a fact that made it fitting that his voyage 
should be commemorated by Pawcatuck in the parade.] 

Banner— "Dutch Explorer, Adrian Block. 1614." 
In the Restless: Adrian Block, Eugene B. Pendleton. Standard Bearers, John Longhead, Neil 
McKenzie. Sailors, John Tanner, Earle Babcock, Charles McSparren, Charles Andrews. 
Mechanics' Band of Stonington. 

SECTION II 
The Pequot War 

[In 1637 the Pequots. a warlike tribe that had driven the milder Niantics from what is now south- 
eastern Connecticut and southwestern Rhode Island, was practically annihilated near the present site 
of Mystic by a Colonial force under Captain John Mason, to whom Mason's Island was given for this 
service. Some 700 Indians perished in the battle, while the English loss was insignificant.] 

Banner — "Pequot Indians." 
Indian Braves. Warriors. Wounded Indian, Medicine Man, Riders, etc. 

Pequot Warriors. By Red Men of New London. 

Marshals, William Greig, James P. O'Connor. 
Roy C. Barker, John M. Cook, Michael Glynn, Thomas B. Terson, William H. Damon, E. M. 
Hayes, Samuel Prince, Christopher Beebe, O. F. Andrews, Morris H. Treadway, John Baratz, 
George H. Reinacher, Benjamin N. Rose, Charles H. Rose, E. N. Rose. 

Indian women, girls and boys. By Pawcatuck, Mystic and Stonington. 

From Pawcatuck. 
Marshal. Miss Natalie Hazard. 
Winifred Casey, May Lahn, Edith Givin. Priscilla Main, Anna Schuze. Mary Casey. Jeannie Smith, 
Gladys Brown, Florence Watrous, Gertrude Lahn. 

49 



50 

From Mystic. 
Marshal, Miss Joanna Burnet. 
Indian princess, riding, Mrs. Albert Wilson. Indian brave, riding. Fred Noyes Wheeler. 
Florence Brown, Blanche Burrows, Esther Barnes, Priscilla Dickenson, Mildred Gray. Marian Gray. 
Marian Lamb, Bertha Lamb. Ida Maynard, Barbara Macdonald, Marian Prentice, Cora Rogers, 

Marshal. Miss Edna Wheeler. 
Indian princess, Rita Denison. 

Almeda Haley, Rachel Edgecombe, Walli Hochchild, Beatrice Wylie, Maria Cooper. Fiances Trevena, 
Florence Crary. Elizabeth Cheney, Esther Denison. Violet Adamson, Margaret Galvin. 

Float : Tepee. 

From Stonington and Mystic. 
Marshals, Mrs. Charles H. Davis. Miss Louise Trumbull. 
Josephine Stevenson, Elizabeth Adamson, Margaret Scheller, Elsie Hauschild, Coretta Pollard. Tillie 
Fritz, Esther Bindloss, Prudence Fairbrother, Geraldine Joseph, Marguerite Chamberlain, 
Catherine Dickenson, Florence Thompson. 
Indian boys, George Darrell. Herbert Simmons. 

Banner — "Pequot War." 

Narragansett Warriors. By Red Men of Westerly and New London. 

Marshals, William E. Saunders, Walter Knight. 

Robert Knight. Otis N. Chapman, Walter Nash, Rowse L. Clark, William E. Saunders, Ralph 

Kinney, Albert Young, Harold Maine, Fred Boulter, Raymond Stillman. 

Marshals, Alfred Chapman, E. M. Hayes. 

James Vozella, Charles Austin, John S. Chappell. John T. E. Morrison, Francis Jordan. John T. 

Bentley, Charles B. Field. John J. Lawless, J. Arthur Colpas. 

By Stonington and Mystic descendants of John Mason. 

Rev. Charles J. Mason, representing Captain John Mason and carrying his sword; Charles J. Mason, 
Jr.. Ralph Crumb, Harry Morgan, Clarence Coogan, Henry Coogan, Arthur Coogan. soldiers. 
Fairman's Light Infantry Band of Providence. 

SECTION III 

The Settlement of the Town 

[The first white settler within the limits of the town was William Chesebrough. who came from 
Rehoboth in Plymouth Colony in 1619 and built a house at Wequetequock. Thomas Stanton, who 
first landed in Virginia, came to Pawcatuck in 1650 and established a trading post on the shore of the 
river; later he was interpreter general of the New England Colonies. Thomas Miner, who had lived 
in Charlestown. Hingham and New London, settled at Wequetequock in 1622 and afterward moved 
to Quiambaug. Walter Palmer, the first of the founders of the town to emigrate to America, came 
to Wequetequock from Rehoboth in 16.53, purchased Thomas Miner's house and acquired the land 
on the east side of the cove. Captain George Denison, famous as an Indian fighter, settled near 
Mystic in 1654, and Captain John Gallup and Robert Park established themselves in that part of the 
town in the same year. Thomas Wheeler came from Lynn in 1667 and settled in the northern sec- 
tion of the town.) 

Banner— "Early Settlers, 1619-1666."' 

Chesebro family. By descendants of William Chesebrough from Stonington 

and Mystic. 
Marshal, Dr. Edmund D. Chesebro of Providence, representing William Chesebrough. 



51 

Orville Chesebro, who carries the Chesebro coat-of-arms; Gilbert H. Chesebro, Mrs. Gilbert H. 
Chesebro and daughter Helen (riding), Mrs. William C. Thompson and daughter Grace, Miss 
Mabel E. Ingraham, Henry Chesebro, Lucy Chesebro, Leon Chesebro, Walter Chesebro, Miss 
Priscilla A. Billings, William H. Peckham, 2d, Benjamin F. Cutler, Cutler Chesebro. 

Jesse B. Stinson of Mystic as Samuel Chesebro. 

Miss Elizabeth Wilbur of Mystic as Priscilla Alden. 

[In 1698 Samuel Chesebro was attacked by robbers while in Duxbury, Mass. His arm was broken 
defending himself, and Priscilla Alden nursed him. married him, and rode to Stonington behind him 
on a pillion, holding his broken arm.] 

Banner — "Association of Pawcatuck People.'* 

Stanton Family. By descendants of Thomas Stanton from Stonington, Mystic and 

New London. 

Marshal, Donald P. Stanton. 
Charles Stanton, representing Thomas Stanton. 
Mrs. James R. Carson, Miss Esther G. Perkins, Miss M. Louise Thayer, Miss Katherine Thayer, 
John W. Thayer, carrying the Stanton coat-of-arms; Henry D. Stanton and daughter. C. 
F. Stanton, M. B. Stanton. 

Miner family. By descendants of Thomas Miner from Quiambaug and Mystic. 
With ox-cart and family possessions. 

Marshal, D. W. Miner of Providence, representing Thomas Miner. 
Cornelius Miner (driving ox-cart), Miss Grace Palmer Miner, Mason Manning Miner, Mrs. Henrietta 
Miner Stanton, Miss Hannah Miner, Stephen E. Jennings, Mrs. Stephen E. Jennings. William 
Russell Jennings, Harry Miner, carrying the Miner coat-of-anns, Miss Edith Rathbun, 
Miss Phoebe Stinson, Miss Annie Rathbun, Alexis Taylor, Content Miner, Nellie Hobart, 
Ernest Gledhill. 

Armed escort, James Higgins, Ellsworth King. 

Palmer family. By descendants of Walter Palmer from Stonington and Mystic. 

Marshal, Stephen B. Palmer, representing Walter Palmer. 
William E. Palmer, carrying the Palmer coat-of-arms; J. Culbert Palmer, Jr., banner bearer; Miss 
Sally W. Palmer, Albert M. Palmer and daughter Julia, riding; Miss Laura S. Palmer, Miss 
Helen Koelb, Milton Koelb, Howard Koelb, Joseph H. Hammond. Norton Hammond Brain- 
ard, William N. Palmer, Lewis B. Palmer. 

Denison family. By descendants of Capt. George Denison from Stonington and 

Mystic. 

Marshal, Harry S. Babcock, representing Captain George Denison. 
Miss Eliza F. Denison (riding), representing Lady Anne Borodell; Miss Josephine B. Denison, Miss 
Laura T. Wood, Albert Denison, Oliver Denison, Jr., carrying the Denison coat-of-arms; 
Miss Eliza Anne Denison, Mr. and Mrs. John F. York, Miss Elizabeth H. Robinson, Miss 
Phoebe Denison. 

Banner — "Southertown . ' ' 

Gallup family. By descendants of John Gallup from Mystic. 

Marshal, Amos Gallup Hewitt. 
Amos Gallup, representing John Gallup; Moses Gallup, Mrs. J. W. Gallup, Miss Lillian Gallup, 
Miss Martha Gallup Williams, Miss Maud Pettigrew, Herbert E. Wolfe, banner bearer; Mrs. 
George W. Tingley, Miss Juliette Haley. 

Banner— "Establishment of Stonington, 1666." 



52 

Wheeler family. By descendants of Thomas Wheeler from Stonington and Mystic. 
With ox-cart and family heirlooms, horses and pillions. 

Marshal, Fernando Wheeler. 

Ralph Wheeler, riding as Thomas Wheeler; Ralph C. Wheeler, Farnsworth Wheeler, Mrs. Arthur 
G. Wheeler, Mrs. Fernando Wheeler, riding in ox-cart; R. C. Wheeler, Thibeau, driver of 
ox-cart; Miss Grace D. Wheeler, representing Mme. Mary Sheppard Wheeler; Ralph, 
Marian and Richard Wheeler, Dorothy. Donald and Mary Wheeler, children; Harry Wheeler, 
banner bearer; Alton Wheeler, Miss Ella Wheeler. 

Armed escort, Charles 0. Ryon, Burrows Perry. 

Dr. Ira H. Noyes as Rev. James Noyes, the first minister of the town. 

Miss Ethel J. R. C. Noyes of Washington, D. C, as the minister's wife. 

SECTION IV 
King Philip's War 

[King Philip, younger son of Massasoit and chief of the Wampanoag Indians, was for some years a 
friend of the English, but, angered by their encroachments, he formed a confederation of tribes 
(including the Narragansetls) against them. In 1675 war broke out. The Indians destroyed 13 
towns and killed 600 colonists. In December of that year, Massachusetts, Plymouth and Connect- 
icut troops to the number of 1,000 invaded the Great Swamp in South Kingstown, R. I., burned the 
Narragansett fort and killed 60() warriors and 1,000 women and children; the English loss was 30 or 
10 slain. The Connecticut troops in this campaign rendezvoused at Stonington. Canonchet, chief of 
the Narragansetts, has been called "'the brains of the war on the Indian side." He was captured in 
the Swamp fight and brought to Stonington, where he was tried and put to death. His bearing in 
confinement was worthy the best traditions of Indian dignity and stoicism.] 

Banner — "King Philip's War." 

Float: "Trial of Canonchet." 

Canonchet, Irving W. Congdon; Indians. Stephen Congdon, Luther Symonds. (These three part- 
taken by men of Indian blood). White men, E. Frank White, Lyle Gray, Benjamin Peas 
body. 

SECTION V 
Captain: Kidu ra Stonington 

[William Kidd, famous in the annals of piracy, was born in Scotland, probably at Greenock, about 
1675-1701. He is supposed to have been the son of a worthy Covenanting minister. Young Kidd 
went to sea as a lad. privateered against the French and won a high reputation for stubborn courage. 
In 161)1 the council of New York city awarded him 150 pounds for his services. In 1696 he was put 
in command of a ship with orders to seize the pirates that infested the Eastern Seas, and in 1697 
reached Madagascar. In 1698-99 reports came that Kidd himself was playing the game of pirate. 
He was finally arrested in Boston and sent to England, where he was tried for piracy and the murder 
of one of his men, found guilty on the latter charge and hanged (at London) in 1701, protesting his 
innocence to the last. Kidd often sailed in these waters. A store of his buried treasure was found 
on Gardiner's Island and there is a tradition that he concealed other treasure on the shore of Lam- 
bert's Cove in Stonington. He was an occasional visitor on friendly terms in this town.) 

Banner — "Captain Kidd." 

Captain Kidd, Thomas Whitridge Cutler; pirates, Edward A. Staplin, William Clay, etc. 




AMERICAN REGULARS OF 1814 




ONE OF THE lsu DKFKXDERS 




GRAND ARMY OK THE REPUBLIC 




THE CROWD OX MAIN' STREET 
I his picture gives a good idea of I lie throng of spectators during the parade of Mondaj 



53 

SECTION VI 

The Colonial Period 

[Life was not all difficulty and struggle in Colonial New England. There were neighborhood 
jollities, "training days," quilting bees, tea-drinkings, husking bees and dancing parties. The 
dances of the time suggest those of the present period — by Uieir unlikeness. It i9 a long way 
from the minuet and gavotte of the eighteenth century to the tango and maxixe of the twentieth.] 

Banner — "Colonial Day9 in Stonington." 
Gaily dressed men and women walking as to a gavotte. 
By Stonington and Westerly. 
Miss Anne Atwood, Miss Constance Atwood, Miss Blanche Mason, Miss Harriet Mason, Miss Marguer- 
ite Smith, Miss Virginia Mullins, Mi9sElla Perkins, Miss Dolly Whaley, Miss Marjorie Odell, 
Miss Clarice H. Loweree, Mrs. Horace N. Trumbull; Harry W. Babcock, rider; Courtlandt 
W. Babcock, rider; J. Edward Fairbrother. Harold D. Livingstone, Frank F. Dodge, Horace 
N. Trumbull. 

Colonial Coach. 

This coach is over one hundred years old and ran between Farmington and Hartford, Connecticut. 

It was loaded with ancient bandboxes and trunks from the Historical Society's 

exhibit, and decorated with Hags and coats-of-arms of the period. 

In the Coach: Mrs. Christopher Morgan, Mrs. Scott, Mrs. L. H. Smith, Miss Caroline A. Smith, 

Mrs. Charles P. Trumbull. Driver of Coach, John Holland. Footman, William E. Ryon. 

Jr. Outriders, Frank Vargas, Joseph A. Vargas, Jr. Bugler. 

SECTION VII 

The Revolutionary Period 

[Stonington bore its full part in the Revolutionary War, as well as in the Second War with 
England. On August 20, 1775, it repelled an attack by the British frigate Rose, a 20-gun ship 
which had been harrying the southern coast of New England in search of food for the British gar- 
rison besieged in Boston. Captain Sir James Wallace of the Rose learned that the people of Block 
Island had sent their cattle to Stonington for safe keeping. Accordingly he attempted to land here, 
but the 'Long Point" patriots, armed with muskets only, refused to let him come ashore. Captain 
Oliver Smith gathered his Long Point musketeers and Captain William Stanton hurried down from 
the Road district with his company of militia. The defenders assembled in the Robinson pasture, 
about where the residence of Mrs. Courtlandt G. Babcock now stands, just north of Wadawanuck 
Square. From there they marched to Brown's wharf, and kept back the small boats sent from the 
frigate. The tenders were sent back to the frigate with heavy losses. Captain Wallace thereupon 
began to bombard the place. The firing was maintained for several hours and nearly every house 
was damaged. But only one man on shore was wounded — Jonathan Weaver, Jr., a musician in 
Captain Smith's command, who received from the next General Assembly a grant of 12 pounds, four 
shillings and fourpence. 

Banner — "The Revolution, 1775." 

British Soldiers. 

By Stonington and Mystic. 
Marshal, Frank V. Mathews. 
Duncan Carson. Joseph Coffey, Manuel Pont, Albert Fort, Raoul M. Delagrange, Hubert Zeller, 
Roy C. Whitall. J. Sherman Hammond, Walter E. Hammond, Frank R. Muller, Thomas 
Spears. James L. Leahy, W. Fred Wilcox, Ernest T. Dollbaum. rider; Horace Durman. Wil- 
liam Noyes, Clifford Watrous, Calvin Harvey. Albert G. Randall, Joe Law. 

Group of young girls carrying an American Flag. 

Helen Hobart, Georgianna Holland, Alice McGowan, Mary Robinson. Helena Olsen, Ida Holland. 
East Hampton Fife and Drum Corps in Continental uniforms. 



ax 
C. 



54 

American Minute Men. 

Marshal, Charles D. Main. 
Andrew W. Perry, Edward W. N'orthup, S. J. Swallow, George A. Hallett, Thomas Coughlin, M 
Killars. Hairy Scheller, Theodore Dewhurst, Fred Dollbaum, George W. Dunham, Asa „, 
Wilcox, Leander Parks, Irving C. Eccleston, Ellery York, Charles Hillard, Ripley Park, Amos 
P. Miner, Jr., Ansel Pendleton, George Pendleton, Herbert Main, rider; Reuben Cook, rider; 
Floyd Main, Richard B. Wheeler, Jr., Philip Grey, James Frank Brown, Richard Darrell. 
With large Revolutionary flags. Pine Tree, Rattlesnake, etc. 

Women Descendants of the Revolution from North Stonington and Mystic. 

Misses Louise Merrill. Ethel Hull, Ruth Thompson, Sarah Thompson, Lila Thompson. Mary Bissell, 
Alice Avery, Grace Main, Ruby Park, Marion White, Catherine Wheeler. Edith Hewitt. 
Ella Wheeler, Josephine Dickenson, Geneva Rathbun, Mildred Chapman, Edna Chapman, 
Cora Clark, Mrs. Edgar Chapman. Mrs. John D. Avery, Mrs. George W. Taylor, Mrs. A. O. 
Colby and daughter, Mrs. Walter T. Fish, Miss Louise Fish, Miss Fannie Fish, Miss Jessie 
Fish, Miss Ellen T. Holmes. Mrs. Irving C. Eecleston, Miss Dora Thompson Maine. 

Women and Girls from Stonington. 

Miss Barbara Muller, Miss Maud Spencer, Miss Tanner, Mrs. Luella T. Gager. 

Schoolmaster, Rev. Dwight C. Stone. 

Children-: Minnie Derricks. Alice Powers, Marjorie Ferris, Helen Miller, Edith Lathrop, Myrtle 
Wilkinson. Josephine Delegrange, Lillian De-Maura. Leonora DeBragga, Emily Robinson, 
Mary Clark, Margaret Clark, Catherine Levens, Elsie Morrison, Marjorie Fort, Genevieve 
Lynch, Constance Fort, Emma DeMaura, Anna Gaiity, Viola Reid, Myrtle Vennard, Frances 
Joseph, Constance Delegrange. Thomas Reid. John Culligan, Maurice Roux, John Chevalier. 
Lawrence Gilmore. Fred Buck, Stiles Gilmore, John MacDowell, Frederick Cushman. 

SECTION VIII 
Whaling and Sealing Days 

[Whaling and sealing were carried on by Stonington vessels from early times. In the middle years 
of the nineteenth century the whaling interests of the port employed many ships and represented a 
large investment. Fortunes were made in this industry. It was from an anchorage in the South 
Shetlands that a Stonington sealing squadron in 1821 de9cried the peaks of West Antarctica. In the 
Hero, a mere shallop of 15 tons, Captain Nathaniel B. Palmer of Stonington sailed to examine the 
region and find, if possible, new sealing grounds. The result was his discovery of the land after- 
ward named Palmer Land in his honor, which was, until recently, the most southerly known territory 
on the globe. Captain Palmer has a rightful claim to be known as the discoverer of Antarctica.] 

Banner — "Whaling and Sealing Days." 

Float: Whaling boat. 

By Stonington. 

Sailors: Benjamin C. Chesebrough, W. Averill Pendleton, William H. Hallett, Harry F. Chese- 
brough. George C. Pendleton. Charles E. Staplin, id. 

SECTION IX 

War of 1812 

[On August 9, lsli, during the Second War with Great Britain, a hostile squadron under the com- 
mand of Commodore Thomas Masterman Hardy made its appearance off Stonington. The vessels 
were the Ramillies, 7-t guns; Pactolus, 43; Despatch, 22, and bombship Terror. The Ximrod, 20 guns, 
was afterward added to this formidable quartette. Commodore Hardy sent word ashore as follows.- 



55 

"Not wishing to destroy the unoffending inhabitants residing in the town of Stonington, one hour is 
given them from the receipt of this to remove out of the town." The place was made ready, never- 
theless, for defence. Behind a four-foot breastwork near the present entrance to the inner break- 
water three guns, (two 18-pounders and one 6-pounder), responded gallantly to the fire of the 160 
English cannon. The attack lasted from the evening of the ninth to the twelfth of August, when 
the enemy sailed away, discomfited and crippled, having failed either to destroy the town or to 
effect a landing. The Despatch alone lost 21 killed and 50 wounded, and when she withdrew with 
the rest of the squadron was in a half-sinking condition. "It cost the King ten thousand pounds," 
wrote the balladist Philip Freneau, "to have a dash at Stonington." Two of the defenders were 
wounded, one of them so seriously that he afterwards died. Many houses were struck, but none 
were destroyed.] 

Banner— "War of 1812." 

American Cavalry. By the Road. 

Marshal, Seth N. Williams. 
Charles Mell, John Williams, Joseph Noyes, Herbert West, Edward Geer. George Pendleton, Varien 
York, Noyes Farnell. Charles Bennett. Jr., Harry Rhoades Palmer, James E. Lord. 

American Regulars. By Stonington. 

Marshal, James J. McCoart. 
Charles Miller, Charles Barnes, Clark Barnes, Ernest Nippers, L. Koehler, Henry Burback. Eugene 
Olsen, Timothy Donahue, John Chevalier. M. Maxwell, Arthur Birchall. Philip McCormick, 
William Schribner, Chester Miller. John Shackley. Fred Holland, Walter Reed, Frank Brier, 
Edward James Welsh, Richard E. Fritz. E. A. Burdick, E. M. Delagrange, Austin Young, 
Roy Harper. 

Cannon used in the defence of Stonington in 1814. 

American Volunteers. By descendants from Stonington, Mystic, Old Mystic and 
North Stonington, August 9, 10, 11, 1814. 

Marshal, Charles P. Trumbull, Jr. 

Professor Otis E. Randall of Providence, great-grandson and representative of Lieutenant-Colonel 

William Randall. 

Carey Maine of North Stonington, drummer. Mr. Maine's father and grandfather went to the de- 
fence of Stonington in the hurry call of 1814. HiB uncle was a regular soldier and his great- 
grandfather served in the Revolution. 

Vernon D. Clark, Ralph Koelb, Clifford Denison, Henry M. Gardiner, William Noyes. Clarence Shay, 
Herbert W. Rathbun. 

Marshal, R. B.Wheeler, Jr., rider. 

Allen Coats, B. P. Wheeler, rider, carrying old sword and pistols; Frank Wheeler, rider; Frank 
Thompson, George Thompson, Herbert Maine. Edgar W. Chapman, carrying old brass 
knuckers; John D. Avery, Wilfred N. Nye. rider; Harry Merrill, Chester Merrill, Merton T. 
Webster of Westerly, carrying musket and powder horn used in the defence; Fred Sted- 
man. rider; Ernest Grey, Leon Pierce, Theodore Perry, Elwood Davis, James Whitney, Elisha 
Davis, William Marchand, Charles C. Grey, William Grey, Morris Wyley, Ray A. Gardiner. 
Dr. C. Wesley Hale. 

Float: Captain Jeremiah Holmes, holding flag of 1814. 

William K. Holmes. Jr., a great-grandson, representing Captain Holmes; Raymond Holmes. 
Chesebrough Fife and Drum Corps of Stonington. 

Women of 1814. By Stonington. 

Marshal. Mrs. Frank D. Stanton. 
Misses Grace Muller, Sarah Graham, Rose Studley. Jennie Spears. Annie Graham. Emilie 
Florup, Mary Chamberlain, Katherine Coffey, Cecilia Gilmore. Florena Thompson. Elizabeth 



Adamson. Helens Vargas. Ella Graham. Helen Cleveland. Ida Thompson, Marcella Mennier. 
Teresa Weisemeyer. Gertrude Burbach. Agnes Killars. May Biightman, Miss Comstock, Miss 
Hodge. Mrs. Ruth Lee Adams. Mrs. Elsie Killars. Mrs. Dwight C. Stone, Miss Grace Biight- 
man. 

Children of 1814. By Stonington. 

William Florup. Adolph Lucker. William Taggart. Mary Taggart. Josephine Lucker, Ora Vincent, 
Bertha Winkler, Catherine Lehman, Anna Schraitz, Edward Vennard, John Wilcox, Eugene 
Holland. John Tanner, Raymond Olsen. Henry Morrison, Norman Wilcox. Waldy Morrison. 
Catherine McGowan. Violet Duke. Jack Rhodehouse. Margaret Monjo, Ethel Rhodehouse, 
John MacDowell. Paul Pampel. Florence Buck, Anna Farnan, Anna Robinson. Anna Morri- 
son. Jennie Spears. Alma Spears. Ruth Spears. Wilfred Spears, Courtlandt P. Chapman, 
riding a pony. 

SECTION X 

The Victory of 1814 

Banner— "Victory of 1814." 

By Stonington. 

Rider, symbolic of "Columbia" — Mrs. Martha H. Miller. 

Float : Victory. 

Figure symbolic of Victory — Miss Ethel Simmons. 

Symbolic figures on float and walking. 
The Misses Leah Connelh Vera Bradley. Pauline Spargo, Ethel Pollard, Anna Vargas, Mary Hunt. 
Alma Killars. Thelma Hinckley. 

Symbolic figure, riding — Miss Maud Caramon. 

While the luncheon tent was filled with the pageant paraders, a com- 
pany of specially invited guests, including the officers of the Army and 
Navy, were entertained at Brayton's Hall. After an ample menu, there 
were several toasts with brief responses, and a spirit of good will pre- 
vailed. The tone of the speeches was one of mutual felicitations. 

At seven o'clock in the evening the Mechanics' Band gave a concert at 
Cannon Scmare, and Fairman's Band rendered another at 7.30 at Mathews 
Park. By this time most of the visitors had gone home, but still there 
was a throng of several thousands in the neighborhood of the station to 
hear the Providence musicians and watch the second display of fire- 
works. The list of fireworks was the same as on Saturday evening. 




BRITISH SOLDIERS OF Ui:> 




BOY SCOUTS 

James H. Stivers. Seoul Master, at right, and W. F. Broughton. Jr., Assistant, in centre 







GOVERNOR BALDWIN SPEAKING AT THE UNVEILING OF THE TABLET 





GOVERNOR AND WARDEN 

Simeon E. Baldwin. Executive of Connecticut. 

and Cornelius B. Crandall, Executive 

of Stonington Borough 



HON. ABEL P. TANNER 

Delivering Ins address at the unveiling of the 

tablet 



THE CENTENNIAL BALL 

The final event of the celebration was the costume ball at the 
Wequetequock Casino, arranged by the Pageant Committee and a 
number of other ladies. The ball was open to the public, on the pay- 
ment of one dollar. The attendance was large, and the various dances, 
by costumed groups taught by Miss Tanner, and by Miss Tanner 
herself, a skilful dancer, were thoroughly enjoyed. The special dances 
were followed by general dancing, which continued until nearly midnight. 

Following is the programme of the dances arranged by Miss Tanner: 

1. Indian Dance (Indian melodies), the Misses Rita Denison, Gertrude Lahn, Catherine Dickenson, 

Marguerite Chamberlain, Geraldine Joseph, Esther Denison. 

2. Classic Dance (Schumann, Dvorak), Virginia Tanner. 

3. A Rigadoon (Grieg), the Misses Anne Atwood, Harriet Mason, Blanche Mason, Constance 

Atwood, Virginia Mullins, Marjorie Odell, Clarice H. Loweree, Marguerite Smith; Messrs. J. 
Edward Fairbrother, Frank F. Dodge, Harold D. Livingstone, William E. Palmer, J. Culbert 
Palmer, Jr., Charles J. Mason, Jr., Harry W. Babcock, Courtlandt W. Babcock. 

4. Orientale (Delibes, Grieg), Virginia Tanner. 

5. The Sea (Tschaikowsky), the Misses Vera Bradley, Pauline Spargo, Alma Killars, Leah Con- 

nell, Mary Hunt, Mrs. J. FraDk Durgin, Virginia Tanner. 

The Pageant Committee received $500 from the Executive Commit- 
tee and $396.18 from other sources, a total of $896.18. Its expenses 
were $816,18, leaving a balance of $80, which was turned over to the 
Historical Society. The receipts from the centennial ball were $289, 
showing that nearly 300 persons were in attendance as paying spectators, 
in addition to the dancers, musicians and other persons present. 



5T 



THE COST OF THE CELEBRATION 

It will be seen from the financial report of the Executive Committee 
on page 59 that the amount expended on the celebration by that com- 
mittee was $6,897.27. The Pageant Committee spent $316.18 in 
addition to the $500 received from the Executive Committee, bringing 
the cost of the celebration to $7,213.45 and the total balance to $103.04. 
As the Executive Committee voted to turn over its balance of $23.04 
to the Stonington Historical Society that organization received from 
the two committees the entire balance — $103.04. In estimating the 
whole cost of the centennial it would be necessary to add perhaps $4,000 
expended by the fire companies of the town and their guests, for music, 
badges, entertainment and transportation. Thus the figures go above 
$11,000, to say nothing of the many thousands of dollars spent by 
individual participants in the celebration. 

The great celebration came to an end without any untoward happen- 
ing, beyond an unimportant roof fire caused by a stray rocket during 
the fireworks display of Monday evening. The three days' crowds 
had been handled without accident or difficulty, and no accident had 
occurred to any of the thousands of participants. 

As the people of Stonington look back upon the celebration they 
realize that it served not only to make them newly conscious of their 
rich historical heritage, but to weld them more closely in sentiment and 
sympathy than they had been before. 



THE FLAG OF STONINGTON 



Words by Henry R. Palmer 



Music by Alfred G. Chaffee 



Where foams the blue Atlantic, 

By rocky Napatree, 
And twilight's friendly towers 

Shine red and gold to sea, 
Great Hardy of Trafalgar, 

With all his ships in row, 
Came flashing down to take the town 

A hundred years ago. 

Chorus : 

But in our smoking ramparts 

Were daring men on guard, 
And high above them fluttered 

The striped flag and starred, 
The flag of our affection 

That still adorns the sky — 
Where'er we be, on shore or sea, 

We'll love it till we die. 

II 

Roared eighty guns to starboard, 

Roared eighty guns to port, 
And hid the starry standard 

That flew above the fort, 
But when the fight was finished, 

It showed its colors fair, 
The victor-tints the sunrise prints 

Upon the morning air. 



Chorus: 

For in our smoking ramparts 

Were daring men on guard, 
And high above them fluttered 

The striped flag and starred, 
The flag of our affection 

That still adorns the sky — 
Where'er we be, on shore or sea, 

AVe'll love it till we die. 

Ill 

A hundred gracious summers 

Have decked New England's shore, 
And Britain's hostile squadrons 

Go up and down no more. 
The heroes, too, have vanished 

Who held the coast of old, 
But where they fought our hearts have 
wrought 

Their victory in gold. 

Chorus : 

And when our country summons 

Her loyal sons on guard, 
They'll rally round her banner, 

The striped flag and starred, 
The flag of our affection 

That still adorns the sky — 
Then three times three, where'er we be, 

We'll love it till we die. 



59 



FINANCIAL REPORT OF EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE 



Appropriation from State of Connecticut 






$1,000 00 


" Town of Stonington 




1 .000 00 


" Borough of Stonington 




1,000 00 


200 Subscriptions ...... 




3,613 50 


Subscription for Prize Essay (Stonington Grammar School) 




5 00 


" Drawing (Stonington Schools) 




5 00 


Proceeds from sale of Buttons .... 




54 65 


Flags ..... 




5 00 


" Grand Stand Seats . . 




81 00 


" " Programmes .... 




215 16 


" Spoons ..... 




9 00 


Race Cup .... 




32 00 
$6,920 31 


DISBURSEMENTS 






Appropriations — 






Stonington Fire Department 


8900 0C 




Mystic "".... 




250 00 




Pawcatuck '* ... 




250 0C 




Pageant Committee 




500 01 




Virginia Tanner and expenses 




342 15 




Boat Race Committee 




150 0C 




Historical Society (by request of donors) 




75 00 




1st Prize Essay (High School) 




10 OC 




2nd " ( " ) . 




5 OC 




Prize Essay (Grammar School) 




500 




(Stonington Schools) . 




5 00 


Flags and Flag Poles .... 






401 64 


Centennial Oak ..... 






18 70 


Fireworks ..... 






500 00 


Transportation of Children 






57 60 


Flags for Children .... 






17 15 


Tents, tables, grandstands, etc. 






857 89 


Drinking Fountains .... 






13 42 


Crockery, food and service 






911 79 


Police service and expense 






244 55 


Rent of rooms, chairs, etc. 






98 04 


Rental of State flags 






400 


Decorations (grandstands, cannons and cemeteries) 






20 20 


Music, etc. ..... 






672 50 


Horses for Marshals and Army Officers 






20 00 


Buttons, badges and pins 






273 04 


Printing, etc. ..... 






198 00 


Miscellaneous ..... 






96 60 






$6,897 27 


Balance cash on hand ..... 




23 04 
$6,920 31 


EVERET 


fT N. PENDLETON. Treasurer. 



This is to certify that we have carefully checked over the accounts of the Treasurer of the Cele- 
bration Committee and examined the report of the Executive Committee, both of which we find to 
be correct and in good form. FREDERICK DENISON, 

A. R. ST1LLMAN, 

Auditing Committee. 
60 




VICTORY OF 1814 FLOAT 
Miss Ethel Simmons as Victory 




ANOTHER VIEW OF THE VICTORY FLOAT 
This picture shows some of the throng at Wadawanuck square 




EDWARD H. SHEFFIELD 

Custodian of the Stoniiiffton Historical Society 
exhibition; at doorwaj of the exhibition hall 




STONINGTON HISTORICAL SOCIETY EXHIBITION 



THE HISTORICAL SOCIETY EXHIBITION 

ONE of the most successful features of the celebration was the loan 
exhibition under the auspices of the Stonington Historical Society 
at Ryon's Hall, formerly the First Baptist Church, on Water street. 
The exhibition opened about June fifteenth and closed about October 
twenty-fourth. 

The committee appointed by the Society to have the exhibition in 
charge consisted of Cornelius B. Crandall, Miss Gertrude Palmer, Mrs. 
Nellie P. Trumbull, Miss Anne At wood and Dr. James H. Weeks. 
Miss Palmer, who had been a devoted member of the Society for years 
and had taken special interest in the plans for the exhibition, was stricken 
with a fatal illness a few weeks before the opening day and died on June 
thirtieth. The committee did not fill the vacancy caused by her death. 

Much of the success of the exhibition was due to the fact that Edward 
H. Sheffield was secured as the custodian. Mr. Sheffield gave the 
committee his unremitting assistance in the gathering of articles for dis- 
play and was not only faithful in his attendance during the more than 
four months the doors of the exhibition were open but tireless in his 
courteous attention to visitors. As he could not be prevailed upon to 
accept any money compensation, the committee presented him, at the 
close of the exhibition, with a gold watch and chain in partial recogni- 
tion of his services. 

The main floor ot the hall, as will be seen from a picture in this book, 
was occupied with a great variety of interesting historical relics, 
most of them of a local character. It would be impossible in any brief 
space to make even the barest catalogue of them. Never has so remark- 
able a collection of such articles been seen in this neighborhood. 

The number of visitors during the season is estimated at 3000. More 
than 1500 persons registered their names and addresses, and it is thought 
that as many more visitors omitted to do so. The receipts from admis- 
sions were $648.09, and as the price of individual tickets was twenty-five 
cents, it is evident from a simple mathematical computation that the 
number of persons in attendance was at least 2592. But the admittance 

61 



62 

fee for children was only ten cents, and season tickets were sold for one 
dollar, so that the attendance in all probability ran sev r eral hundreds 
higher. The estimate of 3000 appears well within the facts. 

The receipts of the exhibition for admittance tickets were, as stated, 
$648.09, while the expenses were $451.78, leaving a balance of $196.31. 
The committee made this up to an even $200, which Avas turned over 
to the Historical Society. 

So complete was the success of the exhibition that a great impetus 
was given to the proposal for a suitable home for the Society, in which 
a permanent collection of historical objects might be displayed. At the 
time this book goes to press, the Society has seven hundred dollars in 
hand towards a building fund, and hopes to secure enough additional 
money to carry the project through. 

It may be added here that the work of marking the older houses of 
the borough with the dates of their construction and the names of their 
original occupants was done by the Azma Warner Bailey Chapter of 
Stonington and Groton, Daughters of the American Revolution. 

The officers of the Stonington Historical Society are President, James 
H. Weeks; Vice President, Elias B. Hinckley; Secretary, Miss Laura 
T. Wood; Treasurer, Dr. Charles M. Williams. As Dr. Williams was 
absent in Europe during the summer of 1914, Benjamin S. Cutler was 
elected Assistant Treasurer and temporarily performed the duties of the 
Treasurer's office. 



COMMITTEES 

EXECUTIVE 

Cornelius B. Crandall, chairman; James H. Weeks, secretary; Everett N. Pendleton, treasurer; 
Wurtem A. Breed, Jerome S. Anderson, Jr., Henry R- Palmer, Benjamin S. Cutler, Charles 

B. McCoart. 

INVITATIONS AND SPEAKERS 

Henry R. Palmer, chairman; Jerome S. Anderson, Jr.. secretary; Gilbert Collins. Cornelius B. 

Crandall, John W. Chamberlain. Alberti R. Stillman, James Cooper. 

FINANCE 

Benjamin S. Cutler, chairman; Miss Louise Trumbull, secretary; Miss Jean C. Palmer, John H. 

Ryan. Nathaniel P. Noyes. Mrs. Charles H. Cowan, Miss Annie McGrath, Elias B. 

Hinckley, Albert G. Martin, Henry A. Stahle, James Shea, Heman J. 

Holdredge, Benjamin F. Williams, Dr. William H. Gray. 

SONS AND DAUGHTERS OF DEFENDERS 

Jerome S. Anderson, Jr., Dr. George D. Stanton, Elias B. Hinckley. 

BADGES AND SOUVENIRS 

Henry R. Palmer, Charles B. McCoart. 

OFFICIAL PROGRAMME 

Henry R. Palmer, Mrs. Henry R. Palmer, Jerome S. Anderson. Jr. 

STONINGTON HISTORICAL SOCIETY EXHIBITION 
Cornelius B. Crandall. Miss Gertrude Palmer. Mrs. Nellie P. Trumbull, Miss Anne At wood, James H. 

Weeks. Edward H. Sheffield, custodian. 

CENTENNIAL OAK 

Cornelius B. Crandall. 

MUSIC BY CHILDREN 

Wurtem A. Breed, Miss Harriet N. Woodard. 

FIRE PARADE 

Chief Engineer Ed. P. Teed, Stonington, chairman; Assistant Chief Charles D. Main. 

Neptune Hose Co., No. 1, Stonington — James J. McCoart, J. J. Young, Manuel Joseph, George 

G. Francis, John W. Chamberlain. 
Stonington Steam Fire Engine Co., No. 1, Stonington — F. J. Ostman, James Dally, J. Benjamin 

Adams, Jerome S. Anderson. Jr., Charles A. Rix. 

Pioneer Hook and Ladder Co. No. 1, Stonington— Raoul M. Delegrange, James Duke, W. F. 

Broughton. Jr., treasurer; Robert L. Burtch, secretary; George W. Haley. 

Stonington Fire Police, No. 1 — Patrick Fitzpatrick. 

Chief Engineer H. A. Stahle, Pawcatuck; Assistant Chiefs F. R. Dawley, H. C. Reynolds. P. F. 

Casey. 
P. S. Barber Hose Co., Pawcatuck — A. R. Gavitt, P. Morrison, Thomas Donahue, Charles J. Norris, 

William Crandall. 
63 



64 

Pawcatuck Fire Police — Andrew Fallon. 
Chief Engineer Charles Donath. Mystic; Assistant Chief Mason Manning. 
B. F. Hoxie Engine Co., No. 1, Mystic — George H. Foley, Herbert Gledhill. Henry Lankes, Ru- 
dolph Donath, Edward McKone. 

MOTOR BOAT RACES 

Chauncey B. Rice, chairman; Lorenzo D. Fairbrother, secretary; Edward F. Darrell, Harry W. 

Babcock, Charles H. Simmons, Theodore Dewhurst. 

TABLET UNVEILING EXERCISES 
Mrs. Clarence F. R. Jenne of Hartford, Miss Ethel J. R. C. Noyes of Washington, James H. Weeks. 

LOCATION OF OLD FORT 

James H. Weeks. 

PAGEANT 

Miss Louise Trumbull, chairman; Miss Maria B. Trumbull, treasurer; Miss Anne Atwood, secretary; 

MiS6 Virginia Tanner of Boston, director of Pageant. 

CAST 
Mrs. Dwight C. Stone, Mrs. Frank D. Stanton, Mrs. Asa C. Wilcox, Miss Barbara Muller. 

COSTUMES 
Mrs. Edward P. York, Miss Sally W. Palmer, Miss Priscilla D. Loper, Miss Blanche Mason, Miss 

Blanche Collins. 

BANNERS 

Miss Harriet Mason, Miss Dolly Wbaley, Miss Prudence Fairbrother, Miss Geraldine Joseph. 

PROPERTIES 

Miss Anne Atwood, Miss Laura T. Wood, James H. Stivers, Theodore Dewhurst. 

CHILDREN'S COSTUMES 

Mrs. J. Benjamin Brown, Miss Jennie Trumbull, Miss Dolly Whaley, Miss Janie L. Gates, Miss 

May Louise Pendleton, Miss Josephine B. Denison. 



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